Pictures should never be hung so high that it becomes necessary to mount a chair in order to see them. Hang so the center will be on a level with the line of vision of the person of average height, or about five and one-half feet from the floor. Never hang from one nail. Let the cord be carried over two nails or picture hooks, so to come squarely down to the corners of the frame. That gives an impression of carefulness and completeness. Everyone must consult his own taste as to the grouping of pictures.

In hanging pictures the stock in hand should be looked over and a general scheme decided upon. Some pictures "go well together," others should be ruled out of the companionship of the select. Every man has some decided preference in pictures; one may elect to have nothing but old English sporting prints, another may have photographs of the old masters for a hobby. Artists may pass this over, for in studio decoration artistic license holds sway, and far be it from anyone to suggest to the embryonic Meissonier or Gerome what to choose or how to hang it.

Oil paintings and water colors should never be allowed to become intimate companions, but the latter may hobnob with etchings, pastels, drawings, photographs, and even engravings without losing their dignity. An oil painting of exceptional excellence should be given a special corner and preferably made still more exclusive by being hung in a black box, with immunity from contrast with or contact with pictures of another order. By the same token, there should be no indiscriminate mixing of figure pieces and landscapes - at least, they must not be at too close quarters, although they may appear in the same room.

Water colors and pastels in delicate tints and black and whites and soft etchings should properly be placed in wall spaces where the light is strongest. The darker and more heavily shaded pictures should hang farther away from the light. From the faintly colored pictures in the clearest light, the glance should be involuntarily but skilfully led to the deeper toned pictures farther back in the room.

Sometimes, however, a dark corner that needs brightening may demand a lighter picture or a spot of brilliant coloring may be risked. A pen-and-ink sketch with white mat, along Gibson lines, fills in well in such a case. Harmony must be studied and the positions of a picture well considered before its position is decided. A picture with broad, white mat should never be hung next to a carbon in heavy black frame. The eye must be led, not jerked, from one picture to another.