VIII
ANIMAL PICTURES
From time immemorial children have loved animals, as pets and playfellows, as toys, as heroes of nursery tales, and as the subject of pictures. Without trying to analyze the psychological reasons, we all accept the fact. When other resources fail in amusing a child, we are always glad to fall back on this one absolutely sure subject of interest. In the school and in the home, animal pictures are much used to combine amusement and instruction. The teacher takes them to illustrate nature lessons, and the mother finds them helpful in pointing many a moral. One cannot begin too early to enlist the child’s sympathy with the brute creation.
What constitutes a good animal picture? Correct drawing, certainly, but this is not enough. The animal must seem to be alive. He must show, too, his distinguishing characteristics. We know by his looks what manner of beast he is, gentle or fierce, sly, heavy or fleet-footed. It requires no mean ability to produce a real work of animal art. It means a faithful study of the nature and habits of the animal, and a special aptitude on the part of the artist. Two common faults are conspicuous in much of the animal art given to children. One is stiffness, or lack of vitality:
