DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18975#0165
II. SKETCHING FROM NATURE
125
the greatest possible importance to draw the curves of the
shore rightly. Their perspective is, if not more subtle, at
least more stringent than that of any other lines in Nature.
It will not be detected by the general observer, if you miss
the curve of a branch, or the sweep of a cloud, or the
perspective of a building; ^ but every intelligent spectator
will feel the difference between a rightly-drawn bend of
shore or shingle, and a false one. right, in
difficult river perspectives seen from heights, I believe no
one but Turner ever has been yet; and observe, there
is NO rule for them. To develop the curve mathemati-
cally would require a knowledge of the exact quantity of
water in the river, the shape of its bed, and the hard-
ness of the rock or shore; and even with these data, the
problem would be one which no mathematician could solve
but approximatively. The instinct of the eye can do it;
nothing else.
144. If, after a little study from Nature, you get puzzled
by the great differences between the aspect of the reflected
image and that of the object casting it; and if you wish
to know the law of reflection, it is simply this: Suppose
all the objects above the water reversed (not in
appearance, but in fact) beneath the water, and precisely
the same in form and in relative position, only all topsy-
turvy. Then, whatever you could see, from the place in
which you stand, of the solid objects so reversed under the
water, you will see in the reflection, always in the true
perspective of the solid objects so reversed.
If you cannot quite understand this in looking at water,
take a mirror, lay it horizontally on the table, put some
books and papers upon it, and draw them and their re-
flections ; moving them about, and watching how their
reflections alter, and chiedy how their reflected colours and
shades differ from their own colours and shades, by being
* The student may hardly at first believe that the perspective of
buildings is of little consequence; but he will find it so ultimately. See
the remarks on this point in the Preface [p. 19]-
125
the greatest possible importance to draw the curves of the
shore rightly. Their perspective is, if not more subtle, at
least more stringent than that of any other lines in Nature.
It will not be detected by the general observer, if you miss
the curve of a branch, or the sweep of a cloud, or the
perspective of a building; ^ but every intelligent spectator
will feel the difference between a rightly-drawn bend of
shore or shingle, and a false one. right, in
difficult river perspectives seen from heights, I believe no
one but Turner ever has been yet; and observe, there
is NO rule for them. To develop the curve mathemati-
cally would require a knowledge of the exact quantity of
water in the river, the shape of its bed, and the hard-
ness of the rock or shore; and even with these data, the
problem would be one which no mathematician could solve
but approximatively. The instinct of the eye can do it;
nothing else.
144. If, after a little study from Nature, you get puzzled
by the great differences between the aspect of the reflected
image and that of the object casting it; and if you wish
to know the law of reflection, it is simply this: Suppose
all the objects above the water reversed (not in
appearance, but in fact) beneath the water, and precisely
the same in form and in relative position, only all topsy-
turvy. Then, whatever you could see, from the place in
which you stand, of the solid objects so reversed under the
water, you will see in the reflection, always in the true
perspective of the solid objects so reversed.
If you cannot quite understand this in looking at water,
take a mirror, lay it horizontally on the table, put some
books and papers upon it, and draw them and their re-
flections ; moving them about, and watching how their
reflections alter, and chiedy how their reflected colours and
shades differ from their own colours and shades, by being
* The student may hardly at first believe that the perspective of
buildings is of little consequence; but he will find it so ultimately. See
the remarks on this point in the Preface [p. 19]-