I believe that to truly appreciate art today, you have to see it through the lens of yesterday's art. When I look at a painting, one of the first things I do is search for classical drawing and painting concepts because specific art concepts have always carried meanings—a sense of universal truth—handed down through art history.
Paintings with lines parallel to the page are known as Plane. Most paintings have lines—diagonal to the page and parallel to the page.
Lines that are found, contrasty, seen more prominently (please see our website on Lost and Found edges) and are parallel to the page evoke a sense of peacefulness, stability, rest—a sense of permanence. These ladies have been holding up this capital for thousands of years, a sense of strenght and permanence.
Paintings with lines diagonal to the page are known as recession, showing action and emotion. These are common art history concepts that go back to Rembrandt and as far back as the Italian Renaissance.
In Rembrandt's painting of Christ in the boat with the Apostles, all the diagonal lines suggest everyone's going to drown in the storm, but the one vertical line is directly from Christ, going straight up to God—the only One not worried, sleeping in a boat amidst the storm.
Rembrandt's painting of the woman caught in adultery has color contrast on the Pharisees, depicting people all about show and not caring about the person. Christ and his apostles are painted in a brownish gray, suggesting material things aren't important, just the person. The massive vertical line going straight up in the temple is a covenant God made with Israel, originating at the lady all in white.
Vermeer's paintings, when looked at through an x-ray machine, show that the tapestries on the wall were once diagonal. Vermeer felt something was wrong and made them parallel to the page.
Learning to see a painting seems crucial when artists are trying to make a painting because the same adjectives and adverbs they used are open to us to use.
With Sargent, it's often the principles and concepts he truly understands and chooses not to use that bring great meaning to the painting. Studying the old masters becomes intriguing and fun for me. The question is, how do I put that in my art today or choose not to—becomes a choice?