So that Titian, having to retain
the vertical position for Bacchus' forward leg, used the aggressive
standing leg of the cymbal lady to accentuate its spring and lightness.

[Illustration: Plate XXXIV.

BACCHUS AND ARIADNE. TITIAN

_Photo Hanfstaengl_]

A feeling of straight-up-ness in a figure or of the horizontal plane in
anything will produce the same effect as a vertical or horizontal line
without any actual line being visible. Blake's "Morning Stars Singing
Together" is an instance of the vertical chord, although there is no
actual upright line in the figures. But they all have a vigorous
straight-up-ness that gives them the feeling of peace and elevation
coupled with a flame-like line running through them that gives them
their joyous energy.

[Illustration: Diagram XII.

A, B, C]

[Sidenote: The Right Angle]

The combination of the vertical with the horizontal produces one of the
strongest and most arresting chords that you can make, and it will be
found to exist in most pictures and drawings where there is the
expression of dramatic power. The cross is the typical example of this.
It is a combination of lines that instantly rivets the attention, and
has probably a more powerful effect upon the mind--quite apart from
anything symbolised by it--than any other simple combinations that could
have been devised. How powerful is the effect of a vertical figure, or
even a post, seen cutting the long horizontal line of the horizon on the
sea-shore. Or a telegraph post by the side of the road, seen against the
long horizontal line of a hill at sunset. The look of power given by the
vertical lines of a contracted brow is due to the same cause. The
vertical furrows of the brow continuing the lines of the nose, make a
continuous vertical which the horizontal lines of the brow cross (see
Fig. A in the illustration). The same cause gives the profile a powerful
look when the eyebrows make a horizontal line contrasting with the
vertical line of the forehead (Fig. B). Everybody knows the look of
power associated with a square brow: it is not that the square forehead
gives the look of a larger brain capacity, for if the forehead protrudes
in a curved line, as at C, the look of power is lost, although there is
obviously more room for brains.

This power of the right angle is well exemplified in Watts' "Love and
Death," here reproduced, page 158 [Transcribers Note: Plate XXXV]. In
this noble composition, in the writer's o