LANDSCAPE COMPOSITION 



"S 



by all the light which is reflected to the eye by the minute particles in 

 the atmosphere lying between the eye and the object. It is true that 

 these particles prevent some portion of the light from the object from 

 reaching the eye ; but it is evident that, in the case of the shadowed 

 portion of an object, the light which these particles contribute through 

 reflection from the sun is more than that which they stop off on its way 

 from the object to the eye. Consequently the farther an object is 

 from the eye, the lighter and usually the bluer will its shadowed parts 

 appear. It is evident that the illuminated parts of a distant object 

 will likewise be apparently changed to a bluer tinge with distance. 

 Whether they also become lighter or slightly darker with distance will 

 depend on their local color and upon whether the reflecting particles 

 in the air are water, which sends much light to the eye, or dust or 

 smoke, which send less. Generally it can be said that as an object 

 recedes from the eye, its shadows become lighter, the contrasts between 

 its shadows and lights become less, its color becomes bluer, until finally, 

 like a ver}^ distant mountain, it seems to be almost of the color and 

 brightness of the sky. If its local color be warm, it will apparently be 

 changed toward a color nearer to blue in the spectrum, and it will prob- 

 ably be somewhat neutralized in color. If it be already a cold color, 

 this color will still be modified towards blue, though in a less noticeable 

 degree, and it will probably be intensified. 



This modification of the color and value of objects by distance is Atmospheric 

 called atmospheric or aerial perspective. Where the atmosphere is P^^^PfcUve as a 

 well filled with moisture, as for instance in England, this effect of at- j„ Landscape 

 mospheric perspective is an extremely important one, not only in the Composition 

 larger landscapes, but even at times in those of relatively small size. 

 It arranges the various parts of the view in a sequence of planes of 

 distance ; it subdues the more distant detail and simplifies the distant 

 masses ; and so it not only organizes the whole composition and accents 

 the more pictorially important attributes of the elements in it (see Plates 

 23 and 28), but it gives an effect of mysterj^ (see again Plate 20), a chance 

 for play of imagination, which may lend an air of distinction and charm 

 to a scene which in the crystal atmosphere of a Colorado summer might 

 appear sordid and full of incongruous detail. Aerial perspective thus 

 gives a means of judging the relative distances of objects in a view. It 



