B.  Principles of Composition.

The particular function of the elements which are substituted for geometrical symmetry has been made clear; their presence lends variety and richness to the balance of motor impulses.  But the natural motor response to stimulation has another characteristic which belongs to us as individuals.  The motor response must be balanced, but also unified.  In a picture, therefore, there must be a large outline in which all the elements are held together, corresponding to this requirement of unity.  Now this way of holding together, this manner of combination, may vary; and I hope to show that it not only varies with the subject and purpose of the picture, but bears a very close relation thereto—­that, in short, it is what determines the whole character of the picture.  Just what this relation is will appear in the study of our material.

Examples of these types of composition may best be found by analyzing a few very well-known pictures.  We may begin with the class first studied, the Altarpiece, choosing a picture by Botticelli, in the Florence Academy (746).  Under an arch is draped a canopy held up by angels; under this, again, sits the M. with the C. on her lap, on a throne, at the foot of which, on each side, stand three saints.  The outline of the whole is markedly pyramidal—­in fact, there are, broadly speaking, three pyramids; of the arch, the canopy, and the grouping.  A second, much less symmetrical example of this type, is given by another Botticelli in the Academy—­Spring (140).  Here the central female figure, topped by the floating Cupid, is slightly raised above the others, which, however, bend slightly inward, so that a triangle, or pyramid with very obtuse angle at the apex, is suggested; and the whole, which at first glance seems a little scattered, is at once felt, when this is grasped, as closely bound together.

Closely allied to this is the type of the Madonna of Burgomaster Meyer, Holbein (725), in the Grand-Ducal Castle, Darmstadt.  It is true that the same pyramid is given by the head of the M. against the shell-like background, and her spreading cloak which envelops the kneeling donors.  But still more salient is the diamond form given by the descending rows of these worshipping figures, especially against the dark background of the M.’s dress.  A second example, without the pyramid backing, is found in Rubens’ Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus (88), in the Alte Pinakothek at Munich.  Here the diamond shape formed by the horses and struggling figures is most remarkable—­an effect of lightness which will be discussed later in interpreting the types.