LANDSCAPE COMPOSITION 103 



actual characteristics nor their location in plan nor their relation in 

 elevation in which must lie their compositional excellence, is a fact 

 which even the experienced designer must force himself to bear con- 

 stantly in mind. As seen from a chosen definite point of view^, objects 

 may be made dominant or subordinate in the composition, may be 

 made in effect large or small, may be led up to and enframed by other 

 objects, purely according to their relative positions in relation to the 

 observer. It is a fact however that diminution of size on account of 

 distance will not subordinate an object in nature to the extent that the 

 same diminution of size would subordinate an object in a painting. 

 If the distant object attracts the attention at all, the eye may be focused 

 upon it and a great deal of its detail may yet be made out. Its size 

 may be judged by its relation in perspective and its total effect may 

 not be so very different from what it would have been if it had been 

 nearer to the observer.* 



Texture is the result of the shape and size of parts, but of parts so Texture 

 small that in the aggregate they tell as a continuous surface and not as 

 discrete parts or objects in a composition. The texture of velvet de- 

 pends on the character and weave of the thread ; the texture of a tree 

 on the character and disposition of the leaves ; the texture of a distant 

 mountainside on the form of the trees which clothe it. The relation 

 between form and texture, therefore, is merely one of scale, and any 

 texture may be seen to be, on closer inspection, an aggregation of 

 forms. Texture is quite as frequently perceived by feeling as by sight, 

 and much of its usual effect lies in awakened tactual memories, as 

 witness such common descriptive terms for texture as smooth, soft, 

 harsh. (Compare the textures in the Frontispiece, Plate 18, Draw- 

 ing XXVI, opp. p. 198, Drawing XX, opp. p. 158, and Drawing VI, 

 opp. p. 48.) ^ ^ ^ S^^/^ Relation 



There is a certain scale relation which must be preserved between of Texture to 



Size and Shape 



* " One of the great lessons of psychology is the importance of trifles, and when all 

 our labour is done we may find the eye returning again and again, not to fountain or 

 lawn or parterre, but to some object so trivial that it can be hidden by a single finger of 

 the outstretched hand ; some tiny cloud of blue which tells of a far-off mountain, some 

 gleam of distant water half seen between the trees, or green depth of a forest glade." 



Sitwell, An Essay on the Making of Gardens, p. 69-70. 



