difference
between the actual and the apparent form is thorough-going, so that the
picture no longer stands in the attitude of passive indifference towards
the beholder, but imposes upon him its own point of view. It was
thought remarkable in the Minerva of Fabullus, that it had the
appearance of always looking at the spectator, from whatever point it
was viewed. This would be miraculous in a statue, and must seem so in
the picture so long as it is looked upon only as one side of a statue.
The wall-paintings of Pompeii, doubtless copies or reminiscences of
Greek originals,--with masterly skill in the parts, and with some
success in the landscape as far as it was easily reducible to one
plane,--are only collections of fragments, and show utter incapacity to
see the whole at once as a picture. For instance, in one of the many
pictures of Narcissus beholding himself in the well, the head, which is
inclined sideways, instead of being simply inverted in the reflection,
is reversed,--so that the chin, which is on the spectator's left in the
figure, is on the right in the reflected image: as if the artist,
knowing no other way, had placed himself head downwards, and in that
position had repeated the face as already painted. Such a blunder could
not originate with a copyist, for it would have been much easier to copy
correctly. It is clear from the general excellence of the figure that it
is not the work of an inferior artist. Nor can it have come from mere
carelessness; it is too elaborate for that,--and, moreover, here is the
main point of the picture, that which tells the story. Doubtless the
painter had noticed the pleasingness of such reflections, as repeating
the human form, the supreme object of interest; but the interest stopped
there. He saw the face above and the face below, as he would see the
different sides of a statue; but so incapable was he of perceiving the
connection and interdependence of them, that, even when Nature had made
the picture for him, he could not see it. This is no isolated, casual
mistake, but only a good chance to see what is really universal, though
not often so obvious.

In this and other pictures the water is like a bit of looking-glass
stuck up in front,--without perspective, without connection with the
ground,--the mere assertion of a reflection. The conception embraced
only the main figure; the rest was added like a label, for explanation
only. These men did not see the landscape as we s