OF ORDINARY PERSPECTIVE.
An object of equal breadth and colour throughout, seen against a background of various colours will appear unequal in breadth.
And if an object of equal breadth throughout, but of various colours, is seen against a background of uniform colour, that object will appear of various breadth. And the more the colours of the background or of the object seen against the ground vary, the greater will the apparent variations in the breadth be though the objects seen against the ground be of equal breadth [throughout].
Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.