s something which will have a vital effect upon the figure.
The color of the background must be thought of as a part of, because
affecting, the figure itself. The simplicity or variety in the
background, the number of objects in it, must be considered as to the
effect on the figure also. You cannot make the background a patchwork
of objects and colors without interfering with the effect of the main
thing in the picture.

If your figure is simple and quiet, keep the background the same. Make
it a principle to treat the background simply always. If the character
of the case demands some detail, and a variety of objects, then treat
them so that their effect is as simple as possible; and the figure
must be made stronger, in order that the variety in the background
shall not overpower it. Control it by the way the light or the color
masses, or simplify the painting of them. Keep the background in value
as regards prominence and relief of objects as well as in the matter
of color.

=Composition of Backgrounds.=--You can make the background help the
figure, not merely by the painting of objects which help to
explain,--that is of course,--but in the placing and arranging of them
you may emphasize the composition. Whether the background be a curtain
with its folds, or an interior with its furniture, you can and must
make every object, every fold of the drapery, every mass of wall or
object, distinctly help out in the composition as line and mass. Your
composition must balance; the line and movement of the figure must
have its true relation. The way you use whatever goes into the
picture, the objects which make up the background, the way they group,
and the spaces between them, must have a helpful reference to that
movement, and to the balance of the whole.

=Simplicity.=--Lean always towards simplicity in composition as
against complexity. In backgrounds particularly, avoid detail and
over-variety. Don't have the whole surface of the canvas spotted with
_things_. If it is necessary, put it in; if it is not necessary, leave
it out; and if there is the slightest doubt which it is, leave it out.

The most common and the most fatal mistake is to make the picture too
"interesting." The interest in a picture does not lie in the quantity
of things expressed, but in the character of them, and in the quality
of their representation. If you cannot treat a simple composition
well, if you cannot make a picture balance well, and make it