The next consideration is the disposition of the values. In the photograph the whites are confined to the roadway of the bridge and the bottom of the tower. This is evidently due, however, to local color rather than to the direction of the light, which strikes the nearer tower from the right, the rest of the walls being in shadow. While the black areas of the picture are large enough to carry a mass of gray without sacrificing the sunny look, such a scheme would be likely to produce a labored effect. Two alternative schemes readily suggest themselves: First, to make the archway the principal dark, the walls light, with a light half-tone for the roof, and a darker effect for the trees on the right. Or, second, to make these trees themselves the principal dark, as suggested by the photograph, allowing them to count against the gray of the roof and the ivy of the tower. This latter scheme is that which has been adopted in the sketch, Fig. 38.
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| FIG. 38 | C. D. M. |
It will be noticed that the trees are not nearly so dark as in the photograph. If they were, they would be overpowering in so large an area of white. It was thought better, also, to change the direction of the light, so that the dark ivy, instead of acting contradictorily to the effect, might lend character to the shaded side. The lower portion of the nearer tower was toned in, partly to qualify the vertical line of the tower, which would have been unpleasant if the shading were uniform, and partly to carry the gray around to the entrance. It was thought advisable, also, to cut from the foreground, raising the upper limit of the picture correspondingly. (It is far from my intention, however, to convey the impression that any liberties may be taken with a subject in order to persuade it into a particular scheme of composition; and in this very instance an artistic photographer could probably have discovered a position for his camera which would have obviated the necessity for any change whatever;—a nearer view of the building, for one thing, would have considerably lowered the trees.)
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| FIG. 39 | FROM A PHOTOGRAPH |
Third Problem We will consider still another subject. The photograph, Fig. 39, shows a street in Holland. In this case, the first thing we have to determine is where the interest of the subject centres. In such a perspective the salient point of the picture often lies in a foreground building; or, if the street be merely a setting for the representation of some incident, in a group of foreground figures. In either case the emphasis should be placed in the foreground, the distant vanishing lines of the street being rendered more or less vaguely. In the present subject, however, the converging sky and street lines are broken by the quaint clock-tower. This and the buildings underneath it appeal to us at once as the most important elements of the picture. The nearer buildings present nothing intrinsically interesting, and therefore serve no better purpose than to lead the eye to the centre of interest. Whatever actual values these intermediate buildings have that will hinder their usefulness in this regard can, therefore, be changed or actually ignored without affecting the integrity of the sketch or causing any pangs of conscience.
The building on the extreme left shows very strong contrasts of color in the black shadow of the eaves and of the shop-front below. These contrasts, coming as they do at the edge of the picture, are bad. They would act like a showy frame on a delicate drawing, keeping the eye from the real subject. It may be objected, however, that it is natural that the contrasts should be stronger in the foreground. Yes; but in looking straight at the clock-tower one does not see any such dark shadow at the top of the very uninteresting building in the left foreground. The camera saw it, because the camera with its hundred eyes sees everything, and does not interest itself about any one thing in particular. Besides, if the keeper of the shop had the bad taste to paint it dark we are not bound to make a record of the fact; nor need we assume that it was done out of regard to the pictorial possibilities of the street. We decide, therefore, to render, as faithfully as we may, the values of the clock-tower and its immediate surroundings, and to disregard the discordant elements; and we have no hesitation in selecting for principal emphasis in our drawing, Fig. 40, the shadow under the projecting building. This dark accent will count brilliantly against the foreground and the walls of the buildings, which we will treat broadly as if white, ignoring the slight differences in value shown in the photograph. We retain, however, the literal values of the clock-tower and the buildings underneath it, and express as nearly as we can their interesting variations of texture. The buildings on the right are too black in the photograph, and these, as well as the shadow thrown across the street, we will considerably lighten. After some experiment, we find that the building on the extreme left is a nuisance, and we omit it. Even then, the one with the balcony next to it requires to be toned down in its strong values, and so the shadows here are made much lighter, the walls being kept white. It will be found that anything like a strong emphasis of the projecting eaves of the building would detract from the effect of the tower, so that the shadow under the eaves is, therefore, made grayer than in the photograph, while that of the balcony below is made stronger than the shadow of the eaves, but is lightened at the edge of the drawing to throw the emphasis toward the centre.
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| FIG. 40 | C. D. M. |
To add interest to the picture, and more especially to give life to the shadows, several figures are introduced. It will be noticed that the cart is inserted at the focal point of the drawing to better assist the perspective.
[CHAPTER VI]
ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING