354 



THE PAINTER'S HORSE. 



54, 47, 52, 88, Meissonier's " 1814," and PI. 69, prove that 

 the walk, trot, amble, canter, and leap, can be drawn artistically 

 and truthfully at the same time. A combination of these two 

 conditions is harder to find in the canter, than in the other 

 movements just mentioned, and sti more so in the gallop. 

 The difficulty, here, lies in the nature of the action rather than 

 in the speed of the pace ; for the eye can, for instance, follow 

 the order in which the limbs work, far more easily in the 



Fig. 210. — Horses by Gericault corrected by Duhousset. 



fastest trot or amble than in the slowest walk. Here we come 

 to the noteworthy truth that the eye will seldom recognise as 

 true in Art, what it has not actually seen in Nature. The dis- 

 tance at which we usually look at the movements of a horse's 

 legs in the canter or gallop is usually too close to permit us to 

 take in all four together at the same moment. Hence, when 

 critically regarding the action in either of these two paces, we 

 generally content ourselves with studying that of the fore pair, 



