lighting is the artist’s device for emphasizing his leading idea. In a portrait by Rembrandt the wonderful high light in the face illumines the very soul of the sitter, and is intensified by the heavy shadows from which it emerges. In most pictures the principal features are shown by the use of a diagram or framework, so to speak, on which the linear composition is built. One can trace the structural form by connecting the strongest lines of the picture. Notice, for instance, how carefully the four figures are placed in Landseer’s Shoeing. On the left side the three heads—the horse’s, the donkey’s, and the dog’s—are all in line. On the right, the blacksmith stands so that his entire figure will come compactly within the diagram.
One of the commonest compositional forms is the pyramid, which was a favorite device with the Italian masters, especially Raphael. Some of his Madonna pictures and Holy Familics, referred to in my lists, are in this style. Murillo used this form a great deal in arranging his groups, the Children of the Shell being an excellent example. The lamb is lying in such a position that a line drawn from the Christ-child’s head to the left corner forms one oblique side of the pyramid, and the diagram is completed on the other side by a line running along the back of the kneeling St. John. The two Fruit Venders also lean towards each other in attitudes which bring the figures within a pyramidal outline. Sir Joshua Reynolds, who, like Murillo, derived much from the Italians, arranged many portraits in pyramidal style. Miss Bowles is an
