Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory, Hugo Münsterberg [top fiction books of all time TXT] 📗

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.

 

The famous Bull of Paul Potter (149), in the Royal Museum at the

Hague, furnishes a third type, the diagonal. High on one side are

grouped the herdsman, leaning on a tree which fills up the sky on that

side, and his three sheep and cow. The head of the bull is turned

toward this side, and his back and hind leg slope down to the other

side, as the ground slopes away to a low distant meadow. The picture

is thus divided by an irregular diagonal. Somewhat more regular is the

diagonal of the Evening Landscape, by Cuyp (348), in the Buckingham

Palace, London. High trees and cliffs, horsemen and others, occupy one

side, and the mountains in the background, the ground and the clouds,

all slope gradually down to the other side.

 

It is a natural transition from this type to the V-shape of the

landscapes by Aart van der Neer, Dutch Villages, 245 and 420, in the

London National Gallery and in the Rudolphinum at Prague,

respectively. Here are trees and houses on each side, gradually

sloping to the center to show an open sky and deep vista. Other

examples, of course, show the opening not exactly in the center.

 

In the Concert by Giorgione (758), in the Pitti Gallery, Florence,

is seen the less frequent type of the square. The three figures turned

toward each other with heads on the same level make almost a square

space-shape, although it might be said that the central player gives a

pyramidal foundation. This last may also be said of Verrocchio’s

Tobias and the Archangels in the Florence Academy, for the square,

or rather rectangle, is again lengthened by the pyramidal shape of the

two central figures. The unrelieved square, it may here be

interpolated, is not often found except in somewhat primitive

examples. Still less often observed is the oval type of _Samson’s

Wedding feast_, Rembrandt (295), in the Royal Gallery, Dresden. Here

one might, by pressing the interpretation, see an obtuse-angled

double-pyramid with the figure of Delilah for an apex, but a few very

irregular pictures seem to fall best under the given classification.

 

Last of all it must be remarked that the great majority of pictures

show a combination of two or even three types; but these are usually

subordinated to one dominant type. Such, for instance, is the case

with many portraits, which are markedly pyramidal, with the

double-pyramid suggested by the position of the arms, and the inverted

pyramid, or V, in the landscape background. The diagonal sometimes

just passes over into the V, or into the pyramid; or the square is

combined with both.

 

It is, of course, not necessary at this point to show how it is that

such an apparently unsymmetrical shape as the diagonal, alone or in

combination with other forms, nevertheless produces an effect of

balance. In all these cases of the diagonal type the mass or interest

of the one side, or the direction of subordinate lines backward to it,

balances the impulse of the line descending to the other side. The

presence of balance or substitutional symmetry is taken for granted

in this treatment, having been previously established, and only the

modifications of this symmetry are under consideration.

 

Now, in order to deal properly with the question of the relation of

the type of composition to the subject of the picture, complete

statistical information will be necessary. A table of the pictures,

classified by subjects and distributed under the heads of the six

major types, is accordingly subjoined.

 

Pyramid. Double-Pyr. Diagonal.

S.C. D.C. S.S. S.C. D.C. S.S. S.C. D.C. S.S.

Altarpieces, 49 0 1 10 4 0 1 0 0

Mad. w. C., 40 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0

Holy Family, 25 0 4 0 0 1 2 2 2

Adorations, 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Crucifixions, 11 0 0 7 0 1 0 0 1

Desc. fr. Cross, 12 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0

Annunciations, 0 8 0 0 4 0 0 0 0

Misc. Religious, 55 16 3 4 4 0 10 7 5

Allegorical, 20 2 1 4 0 0 4 0 2

Genre, 25 4 4 5 0 0 18 2 1

Landscape, 8 2 1 3 0 0 25 6 0

Port. Group, 20 4 2 9 0 0 3 3 2

Rel. Single Fig., 20 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0

Alleg. S.F., 7 0 0 2 0 0 3 0 0

Portrait S.F., 179 0 0 28 0 0 0 0 0

Genre S.F., 15 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0

 

V-shaped. Square. Oval.

S.C. D.C. S.S. S.C. D.C. S.S. S.C. D.C. S.S.

Altarpieces, 6 1 0 4 1 0 0 1 0

Mad. w. C., 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Holy Family, 13 3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0

Adorations, 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Crucifixions, 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0

Desc. fr. Cross, 5 0 1 3 0 0 2 0 0

Annunciations, 0 1 0 0 8 0 0 0 0

Misc. Religious, 20 14 2 9 12 1 2 2 3

Allegorical, 3 2 1 3 1 0 3 1 0

Genre, 10 7 6 4 4 0 1 3 0

Landscape, 20 12 0 4 0 0 5 2 0

Port. Group, 10 7 1 0 3 0 0 0 0

Rel. Single Fig., 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

Alleg. S.F., 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Portrait S.F., 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Genre S.F., 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

 

What types are characteristic of the different kinds of pictures? In

order to answer this question we must ask first, What are the

different kinds of pictures? One answer, at least, is at once

suggested to the student on a comparison of the pictures with their

groupings according to subjects. All those which represent the Madonna

enthroned, with all variations, with or without saints, shepherds or

Holy Family, are very quiet in their action; that is, it is not really

an action at all which they represent, but an attitude—the attitude

of contemplation. This is no less true of the pictures I have called

‘Adorations,’ in which, indeed, the contemplative attitude is still

more marked. On the other hand, such pictures as the ‘Descents,’ the

‘Annunciations,’ and very many of the ‘miscellaneous religious,’

allegorical and genre pictures, portray a definite action or event.

Taking together, for instance, in two groups of five each, the first

ten classes in the table, we find that they fall to the six types in

the following proportion:

 

P. D.P. Dg. V. Sq. Ov.

I. 66 13 05 13 03 0

II. 43 07 14 20 12 04

 

Inasmuch as II. contains also many ‘contemplative’ pictures, while I.

contains no ‘active’ ones, the contrast between the proportions of the

groups would really be sharper than the figures indicate. But as it

is, we see that the pyramid type is characteristic of the

‘contemplative’ pictures in a much higher degree. If the closely

allied double-pyramid type is taken with it, we have 79 per cent of

the ‘contemplative’ to 50 per cent, of the ‘active’ ones. This view is

confirmed by contrasting the ‘Adoration,’ the most complete example of

one group, with the genre pictures, the most complete example of the

other—and here we see that in the first all are pyramidal, and in the

second only 26 per cent. A class which might be supposed to suggest

the same treatment in composition is that of the portraits—absolute

lack of action being the rule. And we find, indeed, that no single

type is represented within it except the pyramid and double-pyramid,

with 86 per cent. of the former. Thus it is evident that for the type

of picture which expresses the highest degree of quietude,

contemplation, concentration, the pyramid is the characteristic type

of composition.

 

But is it not also characteristic of the ‘active’ pictures, since, as

we see, it has the largest representation in that class too? Perhaps

it might be said that, inasmuch as all pictures are really more

‘quiet’ than they are ‘active,’ so the type par excellence is the

pyramidal—a suggestion which is certainly borne out by the table as a

whole. But setting aside for the moment the pyramid and its

sub-variety, we see that the diagonal V-shaped and square types are

much more numerous in the roughly outlined ‘active’ class. Taking,

again, the genre class as especially representative, we find 23 per

cent. of the diagonal type, and 25 per cent. of the V-shaped. We have

seen how closely allied are these two types, and how gradually one

passes over into the other, so that we may for the nonce take them

together as making up 47 per cent. of the whole. The type of picture

which expresses the highest degree of activity, which aims to tell a

story, has, then, for its characteristic type the V and its varieties.

 

The landscape picture presents a somewhat different problem. It cannot

be described as either ‘active’ or ‘passive,’ inasmuch as it does not

express either an attitude or an event. There is no definite idea to

be set forth, no point of concentration, as with the altarpieces and

the portraits, for instance; and yet a unity is demanded. An

examination of the proportions of the types shows at once the

characteristic type.

 

P. D.P. Dg. V. Sq. Or.

Landscapes, 13 03 35 36 05 08

 

It is now necessary to ask what must be the interpretation of the use

of these types of composition. Must we consider the pyramid the

expression of passivity, the diagonal or V, of activity? But the

greatly predominating use of the second for landscapes would remain

unexplained, for at least nothing can be more reposeful than the

latter. It may aid the solution of the problem to remember that the

composition taken as a whole has to meet the demand for unity, at the

same time that it allows free play to the natural expression of the

subject. The altarpiece has to bring about a concentration of

attention to express or induce a feeling of reverence. This is

evidently brought about by the suggestion of the converging lines to

the fixation of the high point in the picture—the small area occupied

by the Madonna and Child—and by the subordination of the free play of

other elements. The contrast between the broad base and the apex gives

a feeling of solidity, of repose; and