t subordinate to the artistic purpose of his work, and in
relation to the material and purpose for which he works.

[Linear Expression of Emotion]

[Illustration (f013): Lines of Different Textures, Structures, and
Surfaces.]

Then, again, when we come to the expression of ideas--of thought and
sentiment--we find in line an abstract but direct medium for their
illustration; and this again, too, by means of that law of inseparable
association which connects the idea of praise or aspiration and
ascension, for instance, with long lines inclining towards the severe
vertical, as when we draw a figure with upraised hands; while the
feeling might be increased if led up to or re-echoed by other groups and
objects in the composition, forming a kind of vertical crescendo on the
same principle which we were considering in regard to the expression of
lateral movement. Few things in design are finer or more elevated in
feeling than William Blake's design of the Morning Stars singing
together, in the series of the Book of Job, yet it is little more than
a vertical arrangement of figures with uplifted and intercrossing arms.
The linear plan gives the main impetus to the expressiveness of the
design, and is the basis of the beauty, which culminates in the rapture
of the fresh youthful faces.

[Illustration (f014): Expression of Emotion: Lines of Exaltation and
Rejoicing in Unison. The Morning Stars, After William Blake. (From the
Book of Job.)]

[Scale of Linear Expression]

Bowed and bent lines tending downwards, on the other hand, convey the
opposite ideas of dejection and despair. This is illustrated in these
figures of Flaxman's, who was a great master of style in outline.

[Illustration (f015): Lines of Grief and Dejection. Flaxman: Designs to
Homer.]

[Capacity of Line]

We seem here to discover a kind of scale of linear expression--the two
extremes at either end: the horizontal and the vertical, with every
degree and modulation between them; the undulating curve giving way to
the springing energetic spiral, the meandering, flowing line sinking to
the horizontal: or the sharp opposition and thrust of rectangular, the
nervous resistance of broken curves, the flame-like, triumphant,
ascending verticals. Truly the designer may find a great range of
expression within the dominion