Art Annibale Carracci, "Flight into Egypt" 1603-1604

This painting is a lunette, or a half-moon shape. However, the composition within the painting is triangular in nature, with the point of the triangle facing down at the precise point of Mary's feet. The center point of the composition is a waterfall leading from a castle into the estuary. The eye follows the flow of the water down, to settle on the figure of Mary carrying infant Jesus. The color palette also draws the eye toward Mary, who is bathed in white aural light that corresponds with the white tones in the rushing waterfall. In the foreground are three figures. The horizontal planes of the foreground and background terrain are complemented by the verticality of the trees, but the upper third of the painting is taken up by the sky. The content of Carracci's painting depicts the long journey Mary is undertaking with Jesus.

Margaret Burroughs, "Face of Africa."

This linocut offers a monochrome palette that heightens awareness of the black/white duality that symbolizes race relations and colonization dynamics. The bulk of the composition is the woman's portrait. She gazes directly at the viewer. Background elements frame her, as do the diagonal lines etched for a textural sky. Moreover, three palm trees to the right of the woman's head form a definite frame. The angular line in the background is in line with her eyebrow, and parallels the natural diagonal formed by the slope of her shoulders....

The content of Burroghs's "Face of Africa" is the portrait of an African woman depicted on her turf, in her domain.
3. "Musicians and Dancers"

This Egyptian fresco from 1400 BCE depicts loosely undulating female dancers in the background, and one of their rear ends forms the midpoint of the composition. The vertical columns of hieroglyphic writing have counterpoint in the horizontal lines created by the beams linking together the amphorae. One of the dancers reaches down to the amphorae, and her hands create a diagonal line with the hands of the other dancer. Thus, the pair creates a harmonious whole form in the composition. Two musicians consume the entire left third of the composition. Their figures stretch from the top to the bottom of the frame. One of the musician's hands clap cymbals together, and the tips of her fingers point upward, drawing the eye vertically. Likewise, the musician on the left plays a flute and it has vertical lines. The content of the fresco is music and dance in ancient Egyptian culture.

4. Eadward Muybridge, "Horse Galloping"

This collotype is created in the early days of photography. The images are arranged in a 4x4 grid. Each of the sixteen cells is numbered. The camera captures horse and rider second by second. The eye perceives uniformity, as the actual forms and shapes, and especially the colors, do not change. Only slight differences can be perceived, such as in the position of the horse's legs. There…