Image from page 644 of "St. Nicholas (serial)" (1873) (14805053953)

Identifier: stnicholasserial392dodg
Title: St. Nicholas [serial]
Year: 1873 (1870s)
Authors: Dodge, Mary Mapes, 1830-1905
Subjects: Children's literature
Publisher: [New York : Scribner & Co.]



Text Appearing Before Image:
iedland,you will see that the details of dress and featureare fully carried out at the right and left sidesof the picture as well as in the center. Ask your-self the question whether, from any one point ofview, any one eye could really see all these de-tails at one time. I think you will agree that itwould be impossible. Then, to put everythinginto a picture, is to represent what the artist couldnot have seen at any one time, and, therefore, allthe tremendous labor of presenting everything asit really was, does not, after all, give a true viewof the scene as viewed by the human eye. And if it is not true, then it is not the rightway to do it. If you watch a person walk downthe street, you will observe that, as the figure goesaway, one thing after another, that you could seewhen it was near, disappears and is blended intothe general mass. Near by you can see the but-tons on the coat, the wrinkles in the sleeve, theband on the hat, and, if you are drawing the igi2.] FAMOUS PICTURES 1093
Text Appearing After Image:
By permission of Franz Hanfstaengl, N THE ROADSIDE INN figure near at hand, those things would all beindicated. But if you wished truly to represent,the figure some yards away, you would not put inthose things which you knew were there, butcould not see; but would draw it as it looked to you at that distance. If you did not, it wouldnot appear in its true relation to the other thingsaround it. The eye can see only a limited fieldat a time. While Meissonier probably made a mistake in 1094 FAMOUS PICTURES this respect, he was so really wonderful in manyothers that he is accepted as a great painter, andthis criticism, which we can understand, shouldhelp us in estimating not only his painting, butthat of other artists. ANECDOTES OF MEISSONIER The life of Meissonier reads like a fairy tale.He ran the gamut from extreme poverty towealth that enabled him to have in lavish profu-sion everything he desired. His mother diedwhen he was ten years old, and between him andhis father there was littl