Poore's plate of nine small pictures in light and dark: simple patterns, such as a field split corner to corner into dark and light, a pale center in dark surroundings and a dark center in light ones, beside small studies after Whistler, Millet and others.

History · Foundations

The Academy's Rules

From the 1600s, academies and writers set rules for good pictures.

The French Royal Academy, founded in 1648, ranked subjects from history painting down to still life.

  • In 1783 Reynolds described blotting Venetian pictures: no more than a quarter light, a quarter dark, half in between.
  • In 1797 J. T. Smith coined a "rule of thirds": over two-thirds in shadow, and sky, land or water split about 2 to 1.
  • He meant a ratio of areas and lines, not today's grid of nine equal boxes.

Image: Project Gutenberg · Public domain

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