Art Principles Part 15

[a] At the Louvre. See Plate 27.

The painters of the first century of the Renaissance never properly represented a figure in the act of walking, and there are few pictures even of the fifteenth century where a serious attempt is made to choose the best moment in which to exhibit such a figure. The first successful essay in the task seems to have been in The Tribute Money of Masaccio,[a] who indeed was fifty years ahead of his fellows in the faithful representation of action. There was a jump of two decades or so after Masaccio to the next good figure, which was that of an attendant in Filipo Lippi's complex tondo at Florence.[b] This figure must have caused considerable surprise at the time, for it was copied into several works by subsequent artists, notably Domenico Ghirlandaio,[c] and probably suggested the fine figure carrying a jar of water on her head in Raphael's Fire at the Borgo.[d] But Raphael, who mastered every problem in composition, solved this one so completely that he left nothing for his successors to learn respecting it. Not only are the limbs of his moving figures so perfectly arranged that we see only action, but folds of the drapery used on the figures are sufficient to indicate preceding movements,[e] and this is so even when the figures are stationary, but the head, arms, or upper part of the body have moved.[f] This extraordinary feature of Raphael's work will ever form a subject of astonishment and admiration.

[a] Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence.

[b] Madonna and Child with other scenes from her life, Uffizi, Florence.

[c] Birth of St. John Baptist, Santa Maria Novello, Florence.

[d] Fresco at the Vatican.

[e] See Deliverance of St. Peter, Flight of Lot and his Family, Moses Striking the Rock, and others at the Vatican.

[f] The Transfiguration, Vatican.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 22 (See page 244) Christ on the Cross, by Van Dyck (_Antwerp Museum_)]

The painter has a comparatively easy task in presenting an illusion with several figures presumed to be moving, for he has only to comply with two simple conditions. The first is that the particular step represented in the act of progression of any individual should vary from the steps of the persons immediately behind or in front of him; and secondly that the actions of the different persons be connected with each other so far as possible. With these conditions reasonably fulfilled, illusion of motion necessarily follows. Naturally in such a mechanical matter, the character of the invention depends upon the scale of the design. When the moving figures are presumed to be comparatively near at hand, the position of the limbs must be entirely presented, or the progression will appear broken. The effective illusion presented in Burne-Jones's Golden Staircase is due to his ingenuity in so arranging the numerous figures descending the winding stairs, that all their feet are visible.

In the case of a crowd of figures of whom some are supposed to be moving and others standing still, the visibility of the limbs is of less importance than the connection of the various actions. In Menzel's Market in Verona,[a] the illusion, which is remarkable, is entirely produced by the skill in which innumerable instances of action are made dependent upon others. An illusion is created in the same way though in a lesser degree by Gustave Dore in several works.[b] When the motion arises from the actions of the arms of a number of persons, it suffices if the arms are in various positions, as in Menzel's Iron Mill, and Cavalori's Woolworkers[c] where many men are using long tools; but if the limbs are working together, an illusion is impossible. The beauty of Guardi's great picture, Regatta on the Grand Ca.n.a.l, is much diminished by the att.i.tude of the gondoliers, who all hold their poles in the same position.

[a] Dresden Gallery.

[b] See Samson Slaying the Philistines.

[c] Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.

Where many persons are moving together in the same direction, great care has to be exercised in presenting the actions conformably with the rate at which the movement is proceeding, for upon this of course depends the angles of the bended knees, and the extent to which some of the feet may be carried from the ground. In slow natural movements, as where a number of men are dragging a heavy burden, it is rare to find an artist wrong in his representation[a]; but in the case of numerous figures walking irregularly, a true nearground design is uncommon, the painter usually giving insufficient action, with the result that his figures present a stagy appearance.[b] But a defect of this kind is not so serious as where several men, not being in marching order, are moving in the same direction with their feet in similar positions, and each with a foot off the ground,[c] for this is only an aggravation of a case where the picture shows but a single figure walking with one foot in the air.

[a] For good examples see Benoit's Morning of July 14, 1789, Poynter's Building the Treasure City, and Colton's Royal Artillery Memorial (sculptured relief).

[b] Dehodencq's Bohemians Returning from a Fete, Chaumont Museum.

[c] As in Breton's Cry of Alarm.

An illusion of motion may be given to a line of figures in the middle distance of a landscape by simply winding the road along which they pa.s.s[a]; but the angles of the turns must be large, for when they are small, or when there is a distinct zigzag, the illusion is destroyed through the lengthy operation of the eye in comprehending the whole scene.

[a] Diaz's Descent of the Bohemians.

When many figures are moving close together, even if they be marching to the same step, an illusion of movement may be given by the representation of a flying figure proceeding in the same direction. This scheme has been adopted in sculpture with high success, as in the Shaw Memorial at Boston,[a] and the Ma.r.s.eillaise of Rude.[b] In painting, several horizontal figures may be used, but they must be placed irregularly to avoid the appearance of formality. Some modern French artists are responsible for effective designs indicating the arrival of spring by an overhead figure flying above young people moving through flowery fields.[c]

[a] By A. Saint-Gaudens.

[b] Arc de Triomphe, Paris.

[c] See Aman-Jean's decorative panels at the Sorbonne.

A suggestion of motion may be obtained by exhibiting a number of persons engaged in similar actions, but shown in a consecutive series of stages thereof. This plan is admirably worked out by Watteau in his Embarkation for Cythera.[a] A line of couples commences at the right of the picture, proceeds towards the left, and then descends a slope to the place of embarkation. The first couple are sitting and conversing, the next are in the act of rising, and the third have just risen and are about to follow the other couples already walking, the whole device being most effective. A similar kind of illusion is caused by Rubens in his Diana and Nymphs pursued by Satyrs.[b] On the extreme right of the picture some of the figures are stationary; then come a few who are struggling, and finally some running nymphs and satyrs, a perfect progression of events being suggested.

[a] In the Louvre, and repeated with variations at Berlin.

[b] The Prado, Madrid. See Plate 27.

Illusion of motion is more easily obtained with animals than with human figures, providing they are fairly large, because of the greater number of their feet and the consequent wider variation between the apparent and the real movements. It is exceedingly difficult to produce a suggestion of motion with a single animal represented in a natural att.i.tude, but the painter is only concerned with what appears to be natural or probable, and not with what is actually so. We have only a general idea of the action of a horse in nature from what we see, and consequently in design this action must be generalized irrespective of natural possibilities. Some artists combine parts of different actions as exhibited in a series of photographs in order to represent a moment of action as it is generalized to the eye, but this is only serviceable where the presumed action of the animal is one of a series of similar events, as in walking or trotting. It would not answer in the case of an isolated action, as jumping or rearing, because such actions vary with the circ.u.mstances surrounding them, as the height of the jump or the cause of the rearing. In these events therefore the artist may exaggerate to a great extent without appearing to present impossible movements. In fact nearly all good pictures of one or two horses in action are strong exaggerations of nature, but this hardly affects their aesthetic worth because the action is not recognized as abnormal or impossible. The finest painting of horses in action known to us, is Regnault's Automedon with the Horses of Achilles,[a] where the animals exhibit spirit and movement far above experience, but even if we did not know that they are presumed to be immortal, we should only regard the action as exceptional, for it does not appear to be impossible.

[a] Boston Museum, U. S. A. See Plate 28.

There is ample scope for the presentation of an illusion with a number of moving animals. All that is necessary is that they should be kept fairly well together with their legs in various moving att.i.tudes. This illusion is perfectly managed by many of the French painters of battle scenes in the nineteenth century, notably Horace Vernet,[a] Gros,[b]

Chartier,[c] Morot,[d] and Meissonier.[e] The action in the cavalry charges of Morot and Chartier is amazingly true to life. Even three or four animals will suffice for an illusion,[f] but this cannot be provided with the smaller animals, as sheep or goats, because although a series of progressive actions may be given to those outside animals in a flock whose legs are visible to the spectator of the picture, the scale to which they are painted is necessarily so small that the eye has an entirely insufficient range for operating the illusion. Where several horses are represented as moving at considerable speed, it is necessary that some of their feet should touch the ground, otherwise the illusion is destroyed, or else the animal may appear to be racing through the air.[g] The effect is not so disturbing when all the feet of the moving animals are on the ground,[h] or where they are hidden by herbage,[i] or where all the animals are on their hind legs,[j] though in these instances an illusion is almost impossible.

[a] La Smalah at Versailles.

[b] The Combat of Nazareth.

[c] Jena, 1806, and Hanau, 1813.

[d] Reichsoffen.

[e] 1814.

[f] Rosa Bonheur's Ploughing in Nivernois.

[g] Fromentin's Couriers des Ooled Nayls, Luxembourg; Schreyer's The Attack, N. Y. Public Library; and Gericault's Epsom, Louvre.

[h] A. Brown's The Drove.

[i] Uhde's Cavalry Soldiers Going into Action, m.u.f.fel Collection.

[j] Snyder's Hunt, Munich Gallery.

In cases where horses and men are crowded together, and are struggling in confusion, it is only necessary in order to provide an illusion, that no action should be entirely separated from the others. There was a fine example of this work in a lost drawing or painting of t.i.tian, of Pharaoh's Host Overwhelmed in the Red Sea[a]; and many artists of the Renaissance produced like illusions in pictures of the rape of the Sabines. Where the movement is spread over a large area, and the scale to which the animals are drawn is comparatively small, the various groups engaged must obviously be connected together in a series. Franz Adam arranges a scheme of this kind in a battle scene, using running soldiers or hauled guns as links in the chain.[b]

[a] An engraving on wood by A. Andreani is in existence.

[b] A Bavarian Regiment before Orleans, Munich.

An illusion of motion is sometimes a.s.sisted by the t.i.tle of the picture.

A remarkable example of this is Robert's The Israelites Depart. Although individual action cannot be distinguished owing to the scale of the design, yet when one is acquainted with the t.i.tle, the imagination is instinctively set to work, and the enormous crowds packing the wide streets seem to be streaming in one direction. Obviously for the t.i.tle to have this effect, the number of signs must be overwhelming, and there must be no possibility of interpreting the picture in two ways; that is to say, accessory signs must be used to indicate the direction in which the crowd is moving.[71]

CHAPTER III

ILLUSION OF SUSPENSION AND MOTION IN THE AIR

With the a.s.sistance of drapery--Of clouds--Of winged figures--Miscellaneous devices.

The representation of figures suspended in the air, or moving through it, has never offered much trouble to painters, though necessarily involving an apparent miracle. The very slightest pretended physical a.s.sistance suffices for the illusion, and this help is usually rendered in the shape of flying drapery, winged figures, clouds, or artificial devices based upon the contact of two or more figures. The only difficulty met with is in respect of an upward vertical movement. Here, wings or clouds can scarcely be made to differentiate between a rising and a falling movement, and flying drapery is of little service inasmuch as a rush through the air would, if the feat were actually performed, cause the drapery to cling to the figure. The surest remedy for the disabilty is to support the figure directly by winged figures placed at a considerable angle from the vertical, but this plan is only rarely adopted by great masters because of the consequent complications in the design of the group. Since flying drapery is commonly added to the figure presumed to be ascending, and seeing that artists almost invariably insist upon giving their ascending figures upright att.i.tudes, it is seldom that the movement is correctly expressed. Usually the figure appears to be held immovably in suspension, but occasionally, owing to the drapery arrangement, a descending movement is indicated.[a]