THE PLEASURE OF VISUAL FORM. 7g 



forms present similarities of direction, simple and compound, and the 

 characteristic beauty of many forms, both in nature and in art, is 

 traceable in part to the prominence of some one element of direction. 

 Thus the various charms of the forms of cedar and birch among trees, 

 and of the Romanesque and Gothic among architectural styles, are part- 

 ly due to the predominance of some characteristic feature of form, as 

 the horizontal or drooping line, the rounded or pointed arch. 



The sense of equality enters into geometry much more prominently 

 than into visual art ; yet it is is not excluded from the latter, it only 

 appears in a more disguised way. All equalities of magnitude among 

 lines, surfaces, etc., are, to speak with Fechner, above the threshold of 

 enjoyment, and the study of art in all its branches shows how consid- 

 erable this enjoyment is. Among the equalities to which the aestheti- 

 cally cultivated eye is specially susceptible are those in change of 

 direction, whether angular or curvilinear. In all regular rectilinear 

 figures equality of angle is appreciated as well as that of linear magni- 

 tude. The beauty of uniform curves and of undulating lines rests in 

 part on a feeling for this factor of regular and equal change. 



That relations of proportion enter into beautiful form is allowed 

 by all. A technically trained eye may recognize, and perhaps enjoy, 

 simple numerical ratios among magnitudes in lines, etc., but this fac- 

 tor does not appear to enter, in a conscious way at least, into ordinary 

 aesthetic appreciation of form. We hardly experience any addition of 

 enjoyment in learning that the ratio of the axes of a pleasing oval is 

 2:1. So far as conscious reflection can tell us, our enjoyment of 

 proportion rests on a vague estimation of one magnitude in relation to 

 another. But, though this relation is not numerically appreciated, it 

 is very exactly estimated. Our enjoyment of the subtile relations of 

 linear magnitude which enter into the beauty of a refined face shows 

 how delicate this quantitative appreciation really is. 



It is to be observed, further, that this fine sense of proportion among 

 the various parts of a visible form includes a recognition more or less 

 distinct of an equality between relations of magnitude. And it is this 

 fact which brings the sense of proportion under the head of a feeling 

 for similarity and equality. This is plain enough in the case of all 

 imitative forms. The recognition of a face by means of a miniature 

 portrait is really an example of a very fine perception of equalities of 

 relation, for it rests on a distinct appreciation of the relative linear 

 magnitudes and distances of the several features, and on a perception 

 of the identity of these relations with all changes in absolute magni- 

 tude. 



It is hardly less certain that the sense of proportion in art, when 

 not thus based on a knowledge of the relations of natural objects, 

 really implies a like recognition of identity of quantitative relations. 

 The enjoyment of a due proportion between the breadth and length 

 of a column, or among the numerous details of a Gothic church, springs 



