A NOTE ON THE DRAINING OF MOVEMENT 



27 



measure to be observed in what is represented ? There 

 are many optical effects which are not satisfactory when 

 presented persistently, as they are in a work of art. The 

 head of a dog as it shakes itself on coming out of the 

 water leaves a confused blur upon the eye that is too 

 transient in nature to be satisfactory in a picture, and 

 yet it is not very different from the distorted and ever- 

 varying images of objects reflected in undulating water, 

 which are quite acceptable when represented in a picture. 

 Is it upon the effect being sufficiently persistent that the 

 question turns — that the disappearance of the spokes 

 of a wheel from taking place about a centre has, like the 

 reflections in water, a certain constant character which 

 makes the representation of a wheel without spokes 

 quite satisfactory ? 



It is interesting to notice in connexion with the 

 means of expression the difference of principle in the 

 composition of pictures of movement and pictures of 

 repose. In pictures expressive of repose the dominant 

 principle of composition is a structure of verticals and 

 horizontals, in a picture expressive of movement the 

 composition is diagonal. 



To take a few clear instances from pictures in the 

 National and Tate Galleries. Horizontal and vertical are 

 the principle of Turner's " Chichester Canal," varied with 



a few gentle curves, of De Hooch's " Interior," of Crome's 

 "Household Heath" which is divided into two almost 

 equal spaces of moorland and sky by a straight horizontal 

 line, relieved by the cart tracks and a slight movement of 

 the clouds. For contrast look at these three turbulent 

 pieces — Turner's "Shipwreck," Rubens' "Rape of the 

 Sabines" and Tintoret's " Milky Way." 



