Page:Landscape Painting by Birge Harrison.djvu/238

LANDSCAPE PAINTING arts, such as writing, musical composition, and certain lines of craftswork: for the painter, and especially the landscape painter, must sometimes cover miles with his legs in the course of his day's work. We all know also that a robust physique is essential to success on the operatic stage.

Nor do the spells of depression of which we are speaking appear to derive in any way from the dominating and conscious portion of our brains—the part which under great physical or emotional strain sometimes loses its balance; for there are cases of artists who have become insane and have still remained great artists. A noted example of this kind was the Spaniard Goya. The character of his subjects was affected by his loss of mental control, naturally. They became ghastly and often incoherent. This was what might have been [186]