DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1183#0131
COMPOSITION IN PAINTING. 29
the general appearance of the group on a different mode, the background
on a third, and so on with the minor points (provided they all tend to the
assistance of one another), his composition will not only have intricacy
without confusion, but that variety which is so characteristic in nature.
A beautiful combination in nature will often appear to evade every rule,
by her being perfect in every mode of examination. All her varieties
emanate from a straight line and a curve. A judicious arrangement of
objects possessing these various forms gives the strongest natural appear-
ance to a picture; nor ought the artist to leave out rashly what he may
conceive to be void of beauty. In colouring, harsh tints are admitted to
produce harmony in the other colours; and the most picturesque arrange-
ments often depend on the presence of what might be otherwise considered
ugly forms.
As I have made use of the terms " beautiful and agreeable arrange-
ments," it is proper to give an explanation of the sense in which they are
applied. By a beautiful arrangement, I mean a proper adaptation of those
principles that arrest a common observer, and give a pleasurable sensa-
tion, which to a cultivated mind increases (not diminishes) by the investi-
gation of the cause which produces it. For example, a beautiful appear-
ance in nature affects the savage and the philosopher from their sensations
merely as men; but a painter, whose life is spent in a constant competition
with nature in producing the same effects, receives a tenfold gratification
in following her through those assemblages which to the world beside are,
as it were, "a fountain sealed and a book shut up." Hence, in art, a
beautiful arrangement must be a selection of those forms, lights, and
colours that produce a similar result; and the taste of an artist is shown,
in heightening their effect by the absence of those circumstances which
are found by experience to produce the contrary. Did an investigation of
the means pursued by the great masters tend to abridge an artist's plea-
surable sensations, instead of being the most favoured, he would be
rendered the most miserable of beings; but the opposite is the case, as by
the general appearance of the group on a different mode, the background
on a third, and so on with the minor points (provided they all tend to the
assistance of one another), his composition will not only have intricacy
without confusion, but that variety which is so characteristic in nature.
A beautiful combination in nature will often appear to evade every rule,
by her being perfect in every mode of examination. All her varieties
emanate from a straight line and a curve. A judicious arrangement of
objects possessing these various forms gives the strongest natural appear-
ance to a picture; nor ought the artist to leave out rashly what he may
conceive to be void of beauty. In colouring, harsh tints are admitted to
produce harmony in the other colours; and the most picturesque arrange-
ments often depend on the presence of what might be otherwise considered
ugly forms.
As I have made use of the terms " beautiful and agreeable arrange-
ments," it is proper to give an explanation of the sense in which they are
applied. By a beautiful arrangement, I mean a proper adaptation of those
principles that arrest a common observer, and give a pleasurable sensa-
tion, which to a cultivated mind increases (not diminishes) by the investi-
gation of the cause which produces it. For example, a beautiful appear-
ance in nature affects the savage and the philosopher from their sensations
merely as men; but a painter, whose life is spent in a constant competition
with nature in producing the same effects, receives a tenfold gratification
in following her through those assemblages which to the world beside are,
as it were, "a fountain sealed and a book shut up." Hence, in art, a
beautiful arrangement must be a selection of those forms, lights, and
colours that produce a similar result; and the taste of an artist is shown,
in heightening their effect by the absence of those circumstances which
are found by experience to produce the contrary. Did an investigation of
the means pursued by the great masters tend to abridge an artist's plea-
surable sensations, instead of being the most favoured, he would be
rendered the most miserable of beings; but the opposite is the case, as by