Composition

is arranging a complexity of activities for an appointed end. Compositions are governed by the precise organization and harmony of the elements of perspective, light, color, motion and proportion. It is the lintel for the support of form in the temple of art.

see

The layering of space in foreground, middle ground & background in:

The Annunciation
Leonardo da Vinci
1472-75
Tempera on wood, 98 x 217 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The sacred scene is set in the garden of a Florentine palace; with a landscape on the background which Leonardo is know for and the magic and unreal atmosphere created by mountains, water and sky.

The archangel Gabriel is kneeling as a dignified profile figure and raising his right hand in greeting to Mary, indicating her divine pregnancy. The Virgin has stopped reading and reacts to the Annunciation with an expression of deep respect and by gesturing with her left hand. There is a conspicuous perspectival mistake: her right arm had to be painted too long proportionally, so that, despite her seated position, it would still be able to depict the impressive position other hand over the prie-dieu. Leonardo depicted Mary in a three-quarter profile in front of the corner of a room. All three spatial coordinates - height, width and depth - converge on this point, thus creating a sense of depth in the picture as well as enhancing the importance of Mary. Her head clearly contrasts with the dark wall and her body is emphatically framed by the cornerstones whose parallel lines are converging on her.

Recompose this composition in Photosphop (using image: annComposition.psd)