142 BEAUTY, COMPOSITION, 



In sculpture the statue must present harmonious develop- 

 ment of structure from every point of view. It must be so 

 composed that its organic unity shall offer a variety of 

 rhythmically ordered outlines, suggesting in one stationary 

 attitude the inexhaustible capacities for action of the living 

 model. This, it may be observed, is one chief reason why 

 heavily draped figures are only adapted to niches. The 

 Sophocles of the Lateran, the Phocion and the Demosthenes 

 of the Vatican, are so ingeniously clothed that none of the 

 resources of the living body remain unindicated. But modern 

 sculptors too often neglect this obvious necessity for com- 

 position in their work. They erect in the open air monu- 

 mental statues like that, for instance, of Lionardo da Vinci 

 upon the Piazza della Scala at Milan which offer an effective 

 front view to the spectator, while the back presents merely 

 a monotonous expanse of drapery. Recumbent figures upon 

 tombs Gaston de Foix in the Brera, the Cardinal of Portugal 

 at San Miniato, Ilaria del Carretto in the Cathedral of Lucca 

 make less demand upon the faculty of composition, because 

 the attitude is one of sleep or death, and so it need not suggest 

 possibilities of movement* Such works of statuary, moreover, 

 owing to their position, can only be regarded from two or 

 three points of view. 



In painting, the principles of composition are both simpler 

 and more complicated. They are simpler inasmuch as a 

 picture, being a flat superficies, cannot be regarded from 

 several points of view, and therefore the figures which it 

 represents have not to be studied with regard to varied 

 harmony of outline. It is more complicated because form, 

 perspective, colour, light, and shadow are bound to contribute 

 to one effect of unity. In a well-composed picture all these 

 elements must be brought into accord. If we start with the 

 cartoon in outline for a painting, we find that the several forms 

 of which it is composed have been so arranged as to balance 

 each other ; the scheme of lines presents agreeable rhythms 

 whereby each part is made subordinate to a totality. If we 

 proceed to a sepia sketch for the same painting, we notice 

 that the unity of effect already gained by interpenetrating 



