Stranica 22 [22]
2 LIGHT AND WATER
regard with impatience any attempt to dissect these
wonders of nature, or to reduce her magic to a dry
system. But in his study of anatomy or perspective
the artist does not disdain to call in science to his aid,
and in the same way the student will find that an
elementary knowledge of the fixed rules which light
obeys as it falls upon water or emerges from it, will
help him in no small degree to avoid errors of draw¬
ing or colouring which he might otherwise have per¬
petrated, and may also prove a valuable assistance to
his memory when he attempts to record effects which
are of a nature so essentially changing and fugitive.
In the first chapter is explained the formation of
the image in perfectly still water. In the second the
water is supposed to be rippled, and the consequent
distortion of the image is discussed. In neither of
these chapters is the colour of the water itself con¬
sidered; we are so far occupied only with the form of
the reflexions, and the transparency of the water is
for the present ignored. In the subsequent chapters
we are more particularly concerned with the question
of colour. In the third chapter, the water being as¬
sumed to be still, it is shown to what extent this local
colour is apparent under different conditions of vision.
Finally, in the fourth chapter, the same considerations
are applied to a rippled surface.
The principles involved are exceedingly simple,
and when any one of them is considered alone, as
in Chapters I and II, there is little or no difficulty
in its application. But as a matter of fact the prin¬
ciples are often ignored and mistakes result. Most
people will remember instances of sketches being en¬