193. The great object of composition being always to secure unity; that
is, to make out of many things one whole; the first mode in which this
can be effected is, by determining that _one_ feature shall be more
important than all the rest, and that the others shall group with it in
subordinate positions.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.]
This is the simplest law of ordinary ornamentation. Thus the group of
two leaves, _a_, Fig. 31, is unsatisfactory, because it has no leading
leaf; but that at _b_ _is_ prettier, because it has a head or master
leaf; and _c_ more satisfactory still, because the subordination of the
other members to this head leaf is made more manifest by their gradual
loss of size as they fall back from it. Hence part of the pleasure we
have in the Greek honeysuckle ornament, and such others.
194. Thus, also, good pictures have always one light larger and brighter
than the other lights, or one figure more prominent than the other
figures, or one mass of color dominant over all the other masses; and in
general you will find it much benefit your sketch if you manage that
there shall be one light on the cottage wall, or one blue cloud in the
sky, which may attract the eye as leading light, or leading gloom, above
all others. But the observance of the rule is often so cunningly
concealed by the great composers, that its force is hardly at first
traceable; and you will generally find they are vulgar pictures in which
the law is strikingly manifest.
195. This may be simply illustrated by musical melody: for instance, in
such phrases as this--
[Illustration]
one note (here the upper G) rules the whole passage, and has the full
energy of it concentrated in itself. Such passages, corresponding to
completely subordinated compositions in painting, are apt to be
wearisome if often repeated. But, in such a phrase as this--
[Illustration]
it is very difficult to say which is the principal note. The A in the
last bar is slightly dominant, but there is a very equal current of
power running through the whole; and such passages rarely weary. And
this principle holds through vast scales of arrangement; so that in the
grandest compositions, such as Paul Veronese's Marriage in Cana, or
Raphaels Disputa, it is not easy to fix at once on the principal figure;
and very commonly the figure which is really chief does not catch the
eye at first, but is gradually felt to be more and more conspicuous as
we gaze. Thus in Titian's grand composition of the Cornaro Family, the
figure meant to be principal is a youth of fifteen or sixteen, whose
portrait it was evidently the painter's object to make as interesting as
possible. But a grand Madonna, and a St. George with a drifting banner,
and many figures more, occupy the center of the picture, and first
catch the eye; little by little we are led away from them to a gleam of
pearly light in the lower corner, and find that, from the head which it
shines upon, we can turn our eyes no more.
196. As, in every good picture, nearly all laws of design are more or
less exemplified, it will, on the whole, be an easier way of explaining
them to analyze one composition thoroughly, than to give instances from
various works. I shall therefore take one of Turner's simplest; which
will allow us, so to speak, easily to decompose it, and illustrate each
law by it as we proceed.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.]
Fig. 32 is a rude sketch of the arrangement of the whole subject; the
old bridge over the Moselle at Coblentz, the town of Coblentz on the
right, Ehrenbreitstein on the left. The leading or master feature is, of
course, the tower on the bridge. It is kept from being _too_ principal
by an important group on each side of it; the boats, on the right, and
Ehrenbreitstein beyond. The boats are large in mass, and more forcible
in color, but they are broken into small divisions, while the tower is
simple, and therefore it still leads. Ehrenbreitstein is noble in its
mass, but so reduced by aërial perspective of color that it cannot
contend with the tower, which therefore holds the eye, and becomes the
key of the picture. We shall see presently how the very objects which
seem at first to contend with it for the mastery are made, occultly, to
increase its preëminence.