CRISPI AS CÆSAR IN HIS ROBE DE CHAMBRE. A political caricature from Don Chisciotte.
{38} the eyes of the spectator (like the portière rod and the bed part of the couch in the Don Chisciotte caricature, like the lintels and sills of the Sorbonne doorway), that is when one is standing directly in front of them, appear as horizontal lines and are to be so drawn, they do not tip either up or down whether below or above the eye.
2. But when a horizontal line is no longer parallel to the axis of the eyes, that is when it is seen diagonally, as the floor line, the front of the bureau and the top of the mirror, then it follows this law; if it happens to be just on a level with the eyes, that is on the horizon line, then it is horizontal to the sight and is so drawn; if the mirror were hanging where it is in the Don Chisciotte, but were cut off just on a level with Crispi’s eyes, and the draftsman of the picture were just Crispi’s height, then the base of the mirror would be drawn horizontal. But when the lines are below the eye, as the floor line and the bureau lines, then they seem to run up to the horizon and are drawn slanting upward; while if they are above the eye, as the top of the mirror, they tip down to the horizon and are drawn slanting downward—the end farther away from the artist lower in the picture than the end nearer him. (See the side buildings in the Sorbonne courtyard.)
It is advisable for the student of perspective to cut a rectangular opening, not too large, say the size of this page, in a piece of pasteboard, which he may hold at arm’s length in front of him and look through as he would through a small window. This will not only frame his picture for him, but it gives him two horizontal lines and two perpendicular lines, and he can hold his pencil or his ruler against the face of the frame {39} so that it just covers any straight line he wishes to draw; and he will readily see that all vertical lines in nature make his pencil run parallel to the sides of his frame, while horizontal lines if in nature parallel to the axis of his eyes, or if on a level with his eyes, make it run parallel to the base and top. And then, best of all, he can hold his pencil parallel to oblique lines which run away from him, and they will appear parallel to the face of his frame, or in one plane, as they would be in a drawing. This is very helpful, as there is nothing so confusing to the beginner as the lines which run away from him. (In looking up a railroad track the rails seem to run away. You know they are actually parallel, but to your eye they converge. Not only that, but you know they are flat on the ground, whereas, in a picture, you draw them standing up. All this is at first very confusing.)
TYPOGRAPHICAL ORNAMENT. Designed by Eugene Grasset.
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MEN OF THE DAY—CRISPI. By Luque. From La Caricature.
