68 What should Artists do ? 



feet reaching forward to land. Why should not 

 the artist draw these positions, in their thousand 

 variations, in lieu of the one single impossible po- 

 sition now universally in vogue ? Without alleg- 

 ing that he should do so, will the artist tell me 

 why he should not ? For unless it be assumed 

 that the usually drawn position is a sort of geo- 

 metrical resultant of the rapid series of positions 

 passed through, and is hence adopted because the 

 eye mathematically and unconsciously reduces 

 these positions to the resultant, where is the truth 

 which the artist aims to produce ? For I under- 

 stand art to be the reproduction of what the eye 

 can see, or at least its close suggestion. And 

 though there may be room to doubt what the eye 

 may see, there is no room to doubt what the 

 horse actually does in the gallop. 



It is probable that the spread-eagle position is 

 a mere outgrowth of the canter, which in a slight 

 degree approximates to the action of the artist's 

 run, and that the latter has been exaggerated as a 

 means of conveying the idea of increased speed. 

 I have yet heard no allegation that the eye 

 catches any but the gathering positions of the 

 horse's gallop. Now, given this, given an artist 

 equal to and interested in the task, and the ana- 

 tomical results of photography, and it would seem 

 as if a sincere desire to reconcile the eye with po- 

 sitions which the retina must certainly catch as 



