ch is
not needed to that completeness. This too is the truth about
"breadth," that much misunderstood word. Breadth is not merely breadth
of brush stroke. It is breadth of idea, breadth of perception; the
power of conceiving the picture as a whole, and the power of not
putting in any details which will interfere with the unity of effect.

=Intent.=--In this connection it would be well to bear in mind the
purpose of the work on which the painter may be engaged. A man would,
and should, work very differently on canvases intended for a study, a
sketch, and a picture. The study would contain many things which the
other two would not need. It is the work in which and by which the
painter informs himself. It is his way of acquiring facts, or of
assuring himself of what he wants and how he wants it. And he may put
into it all sorts of things for their value as facts which he may
never care to use, but which he wishes to have at command in case he
should want them.

The sketch, on the other hand, is a note of an effect merely, or of a
general idea, and calls for only those qualities which most
successfully show the central idea, which might sometime become a
picture, or which suggests a scheme. A carefully worked-up sketch is a
contradiction in terms, just as a careless study would be.

A picture might have more or less of the character of either of these
two types, and yet belong to neither. It might have the sketch as its
motive, and would use as much or as little of the material of the
study as should be needed to make the result express exactly the idea
the painter wished to impart, and no more and no less.

All these things should be borne in mind, as you study the
characteristics of paintings to learn what they can mean to you beyond
the surface which is obvious to any one; or as you work on your own
canvas to attain such power or proficiency, such cleverness or
facility, as you may conclude it is worth your while to try for.

CHAPTER XI

TRADITION AND INDIVIDUALITY

A picture is made up of many elements. Certain of them are essentially
abstract. They must be thought out by a sort of _mental vision without
words_. This is the most subtle and intimate part of the picture.
These are the means by which the ideal is brought into the picture.

=Line, Mass, and Color.=--Such are the qualities of _line_,
dissociated from representation; of _mass_, not as represe