Читать книгу Magic Shadows. The Story of the Origin of Motion Pictures онлайн

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When about 15, Porta began the investigations which led to the writing of Magia Naturalis, sive de Miraculis Rerum Naturalium, “Natural Magic, or the wonders of natural things.” The material was published five years later, at Naples, in four “books”, or large chapters. Through the years he increased his notes on the subject and in 1589 the work was printed in twenty chapters.

Porta’s Natural Magic was a popular book, a best-seller of the day. It was first translated into English and published in London in 1658. It was also translated into many other languages. Natural Magic contains a wide variety of subjects, including developments in the light and shadow art-science. Porta published the first detailed explanation of the construction and use of the camera obscura in the fourth “book”.

“A system by which you can see, in their own colors, in the darkness objects outdoors lighted by the sun,” was Porta’s title for the section. He continued:

If anyone wishes to see this effect, all the windows should be closed, and it would be helpful if the cracks were sealed so that no light may enter to ruin the show. Then in one window make a small opening in the form of a cone with the sun at the base and facing the room. Whiten the walls of the room or cover them with white linen or paper. In this way you will see all things outside lighted by the sun, as those walking in the streets, as if their feet were upwards, the right and left of the objects will be reversed and all things will seem interchanged. And the further the screen is from the opening, proportionately the larger the objects will appear; the closer the paper screen or tablet, is drawn to the hole, the smaller the objects will appear.