Composition of Backgrounds. — You can make the background help the figure, not merely by the painting of objects which help to explain,— that is of course,-but in the placing and arranging of them you may emphasize the composition. Whether the background be a curtain with its folds, or 'an interior with its furniture, you can and must make every object, every fold of the drapery, every mass of wall or object, distinctly help out in the composition as line and mass. Your composition [362] must balance; the line and movement of the figure must have its true relation. The way you use whatever goes into the picture, the objects which make up the background, the way they group, and the spaces between them, must have a helpful reference to that movement, and to the balance of the whole.

Simplicity. — Lean always towards simplicity in composition as against complexity. In backgrounds particularly, avoid detail and over-variety. Don't have the whole surface of the canvas spotted with things. If it is necessary, put it in; if it is not necessary, leave it out; and if there is the slightest doubt which it is, leave it out.

The most common and the most fatal mistake is to make the picture too “interesting.” The interest in a picture does not lie in the quantity of things expressed, but in the character of them, and in the quality of their representation. If you cannot treat a simple composition well, if you cannot make a picture balance well, and make it interesting with a quiet background, be sure a multitude of objects will not help it. The more you put into it the worse it will be. Learn to be master of the less before you try to be master of the more.

Milton Dictating “Paradise Lost.”. Munkacsy.
To show use of background. Notice also the composition. [on page 363]

Lighting. — I have spoken of lighting in general in other chapters. You must apply the principles to your use of figures. Study the different effects [365] which you can get on the model by the different ways of placing in reference to the window. Whatever lighting will be difficult in one kind of painting will be no less so in another. Avoid cross-lights, and do not be ambitious to try unusual and exceptional effects. If one should occur to you as charming, of course do it, if it is not too difficult, but don't go around hunting for the strange and weird. There is beauty enough for all occasions in such effects as are constantly coming under your observation. What was said about simplicity of subject will apply here as well, for the light and color effect is naturally a part of the subject. The most practical lights are those which fall from one side, so as to give simple masses of light and dark; they should come from above the level of the head, so as to throw the shadow somewhat downwards.

“Contre Jour.” — One kind of posing with reference to lighting, gives very beautiful effect, but calls for close study of values, and is very difficult. It is called in French, contre jour; that is, literally, “against the day,” or, against the light. It is a placing of the model so that the light comes from behind, and the figure is dark against the light. From its difficulty it should not be taken as a study by a beginner, for modelling and color are difficult enough at best. When they are to be gotten in the low key that the light behind necessitates, [366] and with the close values which this implies, the difficulty is enormously increased. But before you attempt the human figure in the open air, you will find it very good study to work in the house contre jour. The effect of a figure out-doors has many of the qualities of contre jour. The diffusion of light and the many reflections make the problem more complex; but the contrast, the close values, and the subtle modelling which you must study in contre jour will be good previous training before going out-doors with a model.

Look at Millet's “Shepherdess Spinning,” at the head of this chapter, as an example of contre jour.

Figures Out-of-doors. — In painting, an object is always a part of its environment. So a figure must partake of the characteristics of its surroundings. Out-of-doors it is part of the landscape, characterized by the qualities which are peculiar to landscape. The diffusion of light, the vibration and the movement of it, the brilliancy and pitch, the cross-reflections and the envelopment, — all these give to the figure a quality quite different from that which it has in the house. There is no such definiteness either of drawing, or of light and shade, or of color. The problem is a different one. You must treat your figure no more as something which you can control the effect of, but as something which, place it in what position, in what surroundings, you will, [367] it will still be affected by conditions over which you have no control.

Textures and surface qualities, local or personal colors, lose their significance to the figure out-of-doors. They become lost in other things. The pose, the action, the mass, the note of color or value, — these are what are of importance. The more you search for the qualities which would be a matter of course in the house, the more you will lose the essential quality, — the quality of the fact of out-doors.

When in the house, you can have things as definite as you wish; out-doors you will find a continual play of varying color and light. The shadows do not fall where you expect them to. The values are less marked. The stillness of the pose is interfered with by the constant movement of nature. The color is influenced by the diffused color of the atmosphere and the reflected color of the grass, the trees, and the sky. , The light does not fall on the face so much as it falls around it. The modelling is less, the planes are not precise. The expression is as much due to the influence of what is around it as to the face itself.