hor has seen numerous
compositions in photography in which artists have posed as characters of
well-known paintings.

Much can be learned of good grouping from the stage, especially the French
stage. The best managers start with the picturesque in mind and are on
the alert to produce well arranged pictures. The plays of Victorien
Sardou and the classic dramas of the state theatre are studies in the art
of group arrangements.

It will be noticed in most groups that there is an active and a passive
element, that many figures in their reserve are required to play second to
a few. The active principle is represented by these to whom a single idea
is delivered for expression.

[Return of Royal Hunting Party--Isabey; The Night Watch--Rembrandt]

In "The Return of the Hunting Party" the group of hounds, huntsman and
deer is such an element of reserve, contrasting its repose with the bustle
and activity of the visitors. It is a diversion also for the long line
stretching across the picture. This is the more evident through the
repetition of it in the line of the second-story and roof and below in the
line of game which unnecessarily extends the group of hounds. A relief
for the insistent line of the figures could have been supplied by lighter
drapery back of the table. This then would have created a cross tone
connecting the hounds in a curve with the upper centre panel. It is a
picture in five horizontal strips, and is introduced for the warning it
contains in its treatment of a group which is in itself _a line._ The
well-known "Spanish Marriage" by Fortuny also shows the reserve group, but
the contrast is more positive both in repose and color. The main and more
distant group is well centralized and there is a clever diminuendo
expressed in its characters.

[Departure for the Chase--Cuyp (Background Compromising Original
Structure); Repose of the Reapers--L. L'hermite (The Curvilinear Line)]

In _"__The Reapers__"_ this idea has apt illustration. The figure in the
foreground is in contrast with the remaining three, both as an
oppositional line and in his action, the three being in repose. The
single figure, though active, does not attract as much as the child who
receives importance from the attention of the two figures. Her position,
opposed to the two, turns the interest back into the group. In all the
compositions by this master one is impressed by the grace and force of the
arrangement. A sma