GIVING THE IDEA OF MOTION. 



355 



and, subsequently, that of the hind pair ; or vice versa. In 

 uch a case, therefore, whichever pair be focussed sharply 

 on the retinae of our eyes, the other pair will of necessity be 

 blurred. Consequently, if both pairs of limbs be depicted 

 sharply in the canter or gallop, the chances are that the 

 idea of motion will not be conveyed to the spectator. For 

 this reason, the painter who is trying to give the " feeling " 

 of motion to a horse he is drawing at either of these paces, 



Fig. 211. — Napoleon's Charger, Marengo {After Mr. James Ward, R.A.). 



will do well to blur (by means of dust, snow, etc.) or to hide 

 (by a bush or grass, for instance) one pair, if he desires to 

 make the other pair sharp. I can see no error of technique 

 in giving indistinctness of outline to the limbs themselves. 

 A painter who exhibited, in the Royal Academy or Salon, 

 a picture representing a horse running away with a carriage, 

 would most probably incur no rebuke from the art critics 

 for blurring all the spokes of the wheels, and drawing all the 

 legs and feet of the animal sharp. And yet those of us who 



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