point, we put ourselves in conditions which are not those of nature. The
European painter must therefore compromise with the exigencies of
binocular vision, modify the too abrupt fading of forms and, in fine,
evade over-exact principles. Thus he arrives at a _perspective de
sentiment_, which is the one used by our masters.

Chinese perspective was formulated long before that of the Europeans and
its origins are therefore different. It was evolved in an age when the
method of superimposing different registers to indicate different planes
was still being practiced in bas-reliefs. The succession of planes, one
above the other, when codified, led to a system that was totally different
from our monocular perspective. It resulted in a perspective as seen from
a height. No account is taken of the habitual height of the eye in
relation to the picture. The line of the horizon is placed very high,
parallel lines, instead of joining at the horizon, remain parallel, and
the different planes range one above the other in such a way that the
glance embraces a vast space. Under these conditions, the picture becomes
either high and narrow--a hanging picture--to show the successive planes,
or broad in the form of a scroll, unrolling to reveal an endless
panorama. These are the two forms best known under their Japanese names
of _kakemono_ and _makimono_.[2]

But the Chinese painter must attenuate the forms where they are parallel,
give a natural appearance to their position on different levels and
consider the degree of their reduction demanded by the various planes.
Even he must compromise with binocular vision and arrive at a _perspective
de sentiment_ which, like our own, while scientifically false, is
artistically true. To this linear perspective is added moreover an
atmospheric perspective.

Having elected from a very early time to paint in monochrome, Chinese
painters were led by the nature of this medium to seek to express
atmospheric perspective by means of tone values and harmony of shading
instead of by color. Thus they were familiar with chiaroscuro before the
European painters. Wang Wei established the principles of atmospheric
perspective in the eighth century. He explains how tints are graded, how
the increasing thickness of layers of air deprives distant objects of
their true coloring, substituting a bluish tinge, and how forms become
indistinct in proportion as their distance from the observer increases.
His testimony i