It is among the portraits that the direction of suggestion is most operative. Since these pictures represent no action, it must be given by those elements which move and distribute the attention; in accordance with which we see that line also is unusually influential. As remarked above, the altarpieces and Madonna pictures, also largely without action, depend largely for it on D., in the form of direction of attention (D. 91 per cent.).
The vista, as said above, rivets and confines the attention. We can, therefore, understand how it is that in the genre table it suddenly appears very numerous. The active character of these pictures naturally requires to be modified, and the vista introduces a powerful balancing element, which is yet quiet; or, it might be said, inasmuch as energy is certainly expended in plunging down the third dimension, the vista introduces an element of action of counterbalancing character. In the landscape it introduces the principal element of variety. It is always to be found in those parts of the picture which are opposed to other powerful elements, and the 'heavier' the other side, the deeper the vista. This is especially to be noted in all pictures of the S. & S. type, where the one side is very 'heavy' and the deep vista practically invariable on the other. Also in D.C. pictures it serves as a kind of fulcrum, or unifying element, inasmuch as it rivets the attention between the two detached sides. (Cf. D.C. among Alt. and Mad.)
The direction of suggestion by means of the indication of a line (L.), quite naturally is more frequent in the Madonna-picture and Portrait classes. Both these types are of large simple outline, so that L. would be expected to tell, but more or less irregular, so that it would not appear on both sides, thus neutralizing its action, as often in the symmetrical altarpieces. This neutralizing explains why it has a comparatively small per cent. in the landscape table, it having appeared in minor form all over the field, but less often in large salient outline. It is worth noticing that for the D.C. of both genre and landscape, the per cent. drops appreciably. As it is, in a decided majority of cases, combined with V.—the shape being more or less a diagonal slope—it is clear that it acts as a kind of bond between the two sides, carrying the attention without a break from one to the other.
The element of mass requires less comment. It appears in greatest number in those pictures which have little action, portraits and landscapes, and which are yet not symmetrical—in which last case mass is, of course, already balanced. In fact, it must of necessity exert a certain influence in every unsymmetrical picture, and so its percentage, even for genre pictures, is large.
Thus we may regard the elements as both attracting attention to a certain spot and dispersing it over a field. Those types which are of a static character abound in elements which disperse the attention; those which are of a dynamic character, in those which make it stable. The ideal composition seems to combine the dynamic and static elements—to animate, in short, the whole field of view, but in a generally bilateral fashion. The elements, in substitutional symmetry, are then simply means of introducing variety and action. As a dance in which there are complicated steps gives the actor and beholder a varied and thus vivified 'balance,' and is thus more beautiful than the simple walk, so a picture composed in substitutional symmetry is more rich in its suggestions of motor impulse, and thus more beautiful, than an example of geometrical symmetry.
B. Principles of Composition.
The particular function of the elements which are substituted for geometrical symmetry has been made clear; their presence lends variety and richness to the balance of motor impulses. But the natural motor response to stimulation has another characteristic which belongs to us as individuals. The motor response must be balanced, but also unified. In a picture, therefore, there must be a large outline in which all the elements are held together, corresponding to this requirement of unity. Now this way of holding together, this manner of combination, may vary; and I hope to show that it not only varies with the subject and purpose of the picture, but bears a very close relation thereto—that, in short, it is what determines the whole character of the picture. Just what this relation is will appear in the study of our material.
Examples of these types of composition may best be found by analyzing a few very well-known pictures. We may begin with the class first studied, the Altarpiece, choosing a picture by Botticelli, in the Florence Academy (746). Under an arch is draped a canopy held up by angels; under this, again, sits the M. with the C. on her lap, on a throne, at the foot of which, on each side, stand three saints. The outline of the whole is markedly pyramidal—in fact, there are, broadly speaking, three pyramids; of the arch, the canopy, and the grouping. A second, much less symmetrical example of this type, is given by another Botticelli in the Academy—Spring (140). Here the central female figure, topped by the floating Cupid, is slightly raised above the others, which, however, bend slightly inward, so that a triangle, or pyramid with very obtuse angle at the apex, is suggested; and the whole, which at first glance seems a little scattered, is at once felt, when this is grasped, as closely bound together.
Closely allied to this is the type of the Madonna of Burgomaster Meyer, Holbein (725), in the Grand-Ducal Castle, Darmstadt. It is true that the same pyramid is given by the head of the M. against the shell-like background, and her spreading cloak which envelops the kneeling donors. But still more salient is the diamond form given by the descending rows of these worshipping figures, especially against the dark background of the M.'s dress. A second example, without the pyramid backing, is found in Rubens' Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus (88), in the Alte Pinakothek at Munich. Here the diamond shape formed by the horses and struggling figures is most remarkable—an effect of lightness which will be discussed later in interpreting the types.
The famous Bull of Paul Potter (149), in the Royal Museum at the Hague, furnishes a third type, the diagonal. High on one side are grouped the herdsman, leaning on a tree which fills up the sky on that side, and his three sheep and cow. The head of the bull is turned toward this side, and his back and hind leg slope down to the other side, as the ground slopes away to a low distant meadow. The picture is thus divided by an irregular diagonal. Somewhat more regular is the diagonal of the Evening Landscape, by Cuyp (348), in the Buckingham Palace, London. High trees and cliffs, horsemen and others, occupy one side, and the mountains in the background, the ground and the clouds, all slope gradually down to the other side.