terious reverence of the
_atechnic_ than perspective. It is that universal art term that includes
very much to many people. When, after writing a thorough treatise on the
subject, Mr. Ruskin remarked the essence of the whole thing can be known
in twenty minutes, it was doubtless in rebuke of the unqualified
suppositions of the artless public.

Balance

The conception of balance clearly understood in the length, the height and
the depth of a picture contains the whole truth of pictorial composition.
The elements which war against unity and which we seek to extract, reveal
themselves as the disturbers of balance and are to be found when the
principles of balance are put into motion.

Does divided interest vex us, the foreground absorbing so much interest
that the background, where the real subject may lie, struggles in vain for
its right; then we may know that the balance through the depth of the
picture has been disturbed. Does the middle distance attract us too much
in passing to the distance where the real subject may lie; then we may
know that its attachment to the foreground or its sacrifice to the
background is insufficient and that its shift in the right direction will
restore balance. Do we feel that one side of the picture attracts our
entire attention and the other side plays no part in the pictorial scheme,
then we may know that the items of the lateral balance are wanting.

It is rare to find apart from formality a composition which develops to a
finish in an orderly procedure. Once separated from the even balance the
picture becomes a sequence of compromises, the conciliation of each new
element by the reconstruction of what is already there or the introduction
of the added item which unity necessitates.

The argument reminds the picture maker that he is in like case with the
voyageur who loads his canoe, sensible of the exquisite poise which his
craft demands. Along its keelson he lays the items of his draught,
careful for instance that his light and bulky blanket on one side is
balanced by the smaller items of heavier weight in opposed position. The
bow under its load may be almost submerged and the onlooker ventures a
warning. But again balance is restored when the seat at the other end is
occupied as a final act in the calculation.(20)

The degree of attraction of objects in the balanced scheme must be a
matter of individual decision as are many other