62 Suggestiveness of Art. 



slowing up at the limit of their forward stride — 

 when the eye catches an agreeable impression 

 which is capable of being reduced to canvas, — 

 though it is after all the proud motion itself 

 which pleases, and this can only be suggested. 

 Now, photography robs you of almost all the sug- 

 gestiveness of the horse's action, unless you se- 

 lect only those photographs which approach the 

 action caught by the human eye. Even after 

 long study of the Muybridge silhouettes, the ar- 

 tistic lover of the horse feels that he must reject 

 all but a small percentage of these wonderful 

 anatomical studies. If there are periods in the 

 horse's stride which are agreeable to the eye, why 

 should the artist not select these for delineation ? 

 Why indeed does his art not bind him to do so ? 



You, Patroclus, are peculiarly elegant in mo- 

 tion. It is difficult to pick a flaw in the sym- 

 metry of your gaits. Slow or fast, fresh or tired, 

 your motion is always proud and graceful. And 

 yet out of many photographs, few suggest your 

 action at all, fewer still even passably ; none con- 

 vey to its full extent what all your intimates well 

 know. 



To photograph well, a horse must have a good 

 deal, but not an excessive amount of action, and 

 with unquestioned grace of curves. The reason 



