From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordA picture is a made representation.
- In TraherneLight and shade make a picture excellent together; Traherne uses this relation to explain how wants and supplies compose felicity.
- In this editionPicture does not always mean an inadequate copy.
- A place to beginPictorial light and shade model the relation of wants and supplies.
Meaning
A picture is a made representation. Its composition, visual reception, and relation to living reality supply different arguments in different meditations.
Use in the book
Light and shade make a picture excellent together; Traherne uses this relation to explain how wants and supplies compose felicity. The shade is not merely an unfortunate patch to be removed, because contrast helps the good become appreciable.
Pictures can also expose the weakness of habitual attention. A work admired at first may eventually become as unnoticed as its wall, showing why sheer visible beauty cannot guarantee lasting esteem. V.5 then enlarges painting into creation, but refuses to leave creatures as mere shadows: the spectator inhabits and owns the pictured world. The visual analogy is useful precisely where Traherne also marks its limit.
Places to read
In this edition
Picture does not always mean an inadequate copy. Its force changes between composition, neglected beauty, and the divine art of creation.