Re: Are the "rules" simply instinctive?

[Bruce Rubenstein]

There was an article in the NY Times several years ago about a study done by some art historians. A large number of portraits were analyzed and it was discovered that a vast majority of them painted with one of the subjects eye's on, or near, the vertical centerline of the picture. It wasn't a composition rule, because it was never even consciously known. Some things just look "right" to people, and it can vary by culture and conditioning.

BR