356 THE PAINTER'S HORSE. 



know anything of the laws of motion, must be aware that, 

 in such a case, any of the horse's feet which are going 

 forward, must be passing far faster through space, than the 

 more or less perpendicular spokes which are revolving 

 through the lower half of their circle ! 



At paces in which there is a moment of suspension, the 

 idea of motion, will, as a rule, be best conveyed by drawing 

 the horse with his feet off the Qfround. On account of vio- 

 lating this principle, old time painters, who represented the 

 horse in the gallop with both hind feet on the ground, failed 

 to give the idea of movement ; although, as it happened, the 

 attitude they adopted was not far from true [see Fig. 93). 

 The later method of showing the racer at full speed, sus- 

 pended in the air, with his fore legs stretched out in front and 

 his hind limbs extended to the rear, was absolutely incorrect, 

 as well as utterly impossible ; and yet it conveyed the feeling 

 ot motion better than that practised by the earlier ^horse 

 painters. It is manifest that a pictorial attitude which we 

 knozu to be incorrect, will look unnatural to us. Consequently, 

 the more general knowledge becomes, the more difficult will 

 it be for a painter who tries to draw horses in motion, to 

 satisfy the artistic requirements of his public. Hence, pictures 

 of galloping horses appearing to claw the ground, as the 

 fore feet come down with the knees and fetlocks well bent, 

 or committing equally absurd eccentricities, will, to any one 

 who has studied the paces of the horse, look simply ridiculous, 

 no matter how meritorious the painting may be in other 

 respects. M. Barroil {L Art Equestre) justly remarks that the 

 fact that the domain of the painter is what one sees and not 

 what really takes place, is no proof that one sees attitudes 

 which do not exist. " It is, however, by virtue of this theory. 



