Zl^ 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 328 



face. ,Fig. i is somewhat after Holbein's method, although no 

 particular pictiire was chosen for imitation. This photograph was 

 taken in a bay-window with a great deal of light. The child's skin 

 was very fair and smooth, the eyes a hazel, every feature very 

 clearly cut. An old-fashioned dress was chosen ; and were it not 

 for the shadow On the neck, which is much too dark, the idea I 

 had in mind was quite fairly carried out. Always there is danger 

 that some point will be overlooked in the arranging, some spot of 

 light or shade forgotten, and there is where much thought is 

 needed. Think your picture well out beforehand, so as not to 

 keep the sitter unnecessarily long. When the time arrives for the 

 taking, arrange quickly and deftly your subject, having the means 



was developed and I took it out into the light of day, " Oh ! ain't I 

 a pretty little thing .' " She was surely a very smiling, good little 

 child, as she sat for the picture. 



It is not necessary to keep to heads in this matter of imitation. 

 Try figures and groups, if you like. But the more you have in 

 your picture, the more difficult it will be. The best way is to begin 

 with a head, simply lighted, and work with that until you get a 

 fair imitation of some good picture. 



If you have a quick-working lens, try a picture with a baby in it. 

 This is an ambitious thing to do. But take one of Andrea del 

 Sarto's pictures of the " Madonna and Child," and plan to make a 

 photograph as nearly like it as possible. One sometimes sees 



of reflecting light and darkening background near at hand, your 

 camera in good order, your lens clean. Then hope for the best, 

 and take off the cap. Always there are disappointments in store. 

 It would be strange were there not. But also there is the certainty 

 of making the disappointments less by sufficient care. 



From the older painters, come down a few centuries to more 

 modern ones. Take, for instance, one of Sir Joshua Reynolds's 

 pictures of a child. Here, indeed, is a charming field for you to 

 enter upon. Fig. 3 is taken somewhat after the manner of Sir 

 Joshua. It is by no means a direct imitation, but some of his pic- 

 tures were in my mind at the time, and half seriously it has been 

 called " After Sir Joshua " by several friends. It was hastily taken, 

 in a poor side-light. The dress was improvised at the moment. 

 The child was an amiable little sitter, and, in a quite unconscious 

 way, much pleased with the result, remarking, when the negative 



faces of the Madonna type, — gentle, mild-eyed women, with pure, 

 delicately cut features. Have the woman dressed like the one in 

 your picture ; the lights, backgrounds, and all accessories carefully 

 arranged, except the little child, who should be introduced at the 

 last moment, and posed as nearly as possible like the child in the 

 picture. Then focus quickly, and take your picture. You should 

 do this thing very well, or not at all. It needs great skill ; and 

 a careful study of composition and light and shade should go 

 first. 



There are charming Van Dykes to imitate, Rembrandts, Hol- 

 beins, Andrea del Sartos, Copleys, and Stuarts. There are also 

 some exquisite modern pictures which it would do you no harm to 

 study. If you are an art-student, you can help your art very much 

 by studying pictures in this way. You will learn how persons far 

 wiser than you, have managed their light and shade, how beatifully 



