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ARCADIA
A TAXONOMY OF CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS
CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS
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Bridge, repeated arch spans, usually middle distance |
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Trees, tree stumps, avenue of trees, cedars, palm trees |
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Repoussoir trees, tilted trees, dead trees |
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Gypsy encampment, man with a red waistcoat, Cooking pot, a tent/tents, Column of smoke |
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Castle battlements, Fences with gates (open/closed) stiles, |
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Ruined building, decrepit chapel, stone steps ascending, Palmer The Lonely Tower |
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Rude hut, obscured cottage with chimney smoke |
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Tombs (Poussin), plaques and memorials |
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Staffage, figures often with back to the viewer, playing stringed instrument or pipes |
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Solitary figure gazing into space (Friedrich) |
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Shepherd with sheep, goats |
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Processional figures, monks, pifferari, carriers of bodies (POUSSIN ) |
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Cascades of water, artifice or natural?
Passages of water, river flow, river banks, empty boats on the shore, reeds in the shallows |
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Distant Lakes (Francis Towne) |
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Angling, drifting pleasure boats |
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Trees, tree stumps, avenue of trees, cedars, palm trees |
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Coastal landscapes with harbours, shipping (Claude) |
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Plants, argarves, |
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Haystacks, stooks, signs of Harvest |
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Rainbow |
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Birds, in the sky, game birds stalking |
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The Sun, behind clouds, through trees |
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The Moon, phases of, crescent Shepherds Full Moon, Palmer |
COMPOSITIONAL
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Left to right - Right to left - |
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Symmetry/asymmetry |
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Forms/objects outside the frame |
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Spiral composition |
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Times of the Day |
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Seasonal (Claude Dance of the Seasons) |
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Foreground, Middle Distance, Distance |
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Dark into Light (Francis Towne) |
DETERMINANTS OF MOOD
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Regretful |
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Melancholy |
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Loss |
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Yearning |
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Paradisic |
FACTORS THAT DESTROY OR UNDERLINE THE ARCADIAN
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Robust action, violent activity |
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Human habitation predominates, counterweight to the landscape |
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Violent weather |
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Supervening or distracting narratives |
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Social realistic depictions of agriculture and labour |
