212 TREES IN NATURE, MYTH & ART 



conditions, and be ill or raisshapenly grown, or 

 it may have been stricken by lightning or tem- 

 pest. The changes through the seasons of the 

 year have also to be recorded Again there is 

 the varying effect of the tree in relation to the 

 sky, sometimes it is light against dark, some- 

 times dark against light. In fact, in recent art, 

 almost the chief pre-occupation of the painter 

 is the varying effect of trees under diverse 

 conditions of light and atmosphere. The tree 

 is swathed in atmosphere, which may be clear 

 or misty, full of sunlight or merely of diffused 

 light under a cloudy sky ; or again, we have 

 the "moonlight air," or mere starlight, or the 

 cloudy blackness, in which the trees appear as 

 vast, uncertain shapes. Lastly, we note that 

 trees are sometimes in motion, sometimes at 

 rest. In previous chapters all these various 

 facts, and varieties of effect, have been inci- 

 dentally referred to. Here they are grouped 

 together — and as already hinted, I do not 

 pause to consider whether or not they are ex- 

 haustive — so that we may realise the goal 

 towards which the pictorial representation of 

 trees has been tending. 



Returning to our Italian painters, we will 



