VISION AND THE TECHNIQUE OF ART. 29 



and shows further many instances where this has been done by great 

 artists. He shows further that satisfactory results can be gotten by 

 introducing what practically amounts to a " barrel distortion." It is 

 not evident, however, that he recognizes the fundamental principles 

 on which curved perspective is based. 



The writers have made what can hardly be called more than a casual 

 search and has found distortion in the following works.: 



Con- 



First 



The lack of its consistent use in most cases causes one to believe 

 that those who used it did so intuitively to make the picture "look 

 right." Israels, however, used it so consistently that he probably was 

 conscious of the law and the same is probably true of Rembrandt. 

 The only example of it that has been found in the works of living 

 artists is in Sir William Orpen's painting " The Peace Conference." 

 As only a photographic copy of this picture has been seen there is a 

 possibility that the distortion was in the photograph. Figure 36 is a 

 reproduction of Israels's " The Day before Parting." The distortion 

 is most evident in the tiling in the floor though it can be seen in various 

 other parts of the picture. 



One would think that the representation of straight architectural 

 features by a curved line coming next to the straight edge of the frame 

 of the pictures as it often does would be very noticeable. It is not 

 however. Not that it is not perfectly evident when one's attention is 

 called to it, but it does not attract one's attention. Its evident effect 

 in many cases is to prevent certain parts of the picture from looking 

 as if they were falling out. 



In using distortion the detail, edges, etc., of the distorted features 



H These pictures are at the Boston Art Museum. 



