1482. Unity is the first obvious principle which pervades the picture. No ideas of gaiety or prettiness are excited by such a scene. All the parts unite in forming a whole, which the eye can comprehend at once, and examine without distraction. 'La vue,' says Girardin, 'le plus vagabond de tous les sens, a besoin d'etre fixee pour jouir avec plaisir et sans lassitude.' Were this principle not prevalent, the groups of trees, the lake, and the building, would only please when considered separately, and the result would be as poor a production as a machine, the wheels of which are accurately finished and nicely polished, but which do not act in concert, so as to effect the intended movement.
