cture_, Van Dyke
speaks of the things that constitute a good painting as follows: "First,
it is good in tone, or possess a uniformity of tone that is refreshing
to the eye; second, it is good in atmosphere--something you doubtless
never thought could be expressed with a paint-brush; third, it is well
composed, and a landscape requires composition as well as a figure
piece; fourth, 'values' are well maintained, its qualities good, its
poetic feeling excellent." A second writer has said that beauty is
manifested in four ways: by line, by light and shade, by color and by
composition. We will consider these characteristics in order.

_a. Line._ We define the boundaries of objects and limit space by means
of lines, and the use of lines constitutes drawing in pictures. These
lines so used may be narrow or broad, straight or curved, perfect or
broken, and definite or vague and undetermined. Upon their proper use,
however, depends the beauty of proportion, the strength of personality
and the impressions of truthfulness and reality. There are few rigid
lines in nature. What we see is an impression of line, not sharp lines.
If you look at a book you may see the sharp lines that bound its edges
but if you move it away a little or put it in shadow its boundaries are
a little hazy and gradually you lose the impression of the lines that
bound it and see only a book. A tree has no sharp outline except when it
stands on a horizon and looks like a silhouette against the light.
Ordinarily it is a mass of moving light and shade, of color. The leaves
are not separately limited by lines and yet we know that leaves are
there. If the artist drew each leaf separately and accurately the
general effect would be extremely unnatural and instead of a tree we
should see only the minute carefulness of a painter who had failed.
Perfect lines, then, are rare in good pictures. The artist does not
intend to make exact representations of reality but to convey the
_appearance_ of reality, and just in so far as he succeeds in conveying
that appearance of reality is he successful. This does not mean that
good drawing is not necessary in a picture; it merely tells you what
constitutes good drawing. If the lines of the human figure are perfect
it is almost certain that the figure will be strained, unnatural and
without the appearance of life or motion. In a good picture the lines of
good drawing are present but they are broken, subdued and lead into one
anothe