Implied Lines

I was rather thrown by this exercise particularly because the image of the Virgin Mary does not appear to be looking along the drawn in line. I was further confused by the two pictures offered for analysis because in neither case could I see the eyes.

The picture of the Matador and the bull would suggest that he is looking at the bull's horns to ensure that they pass in front of his body. However he could be looking to see how deep the wound is after he was gored by the bull. Perhaps the only safe thing to say is that he is probably looking at the bull.

The man with the two horses appears to be looking at their feet presumably to ensure that they are successfully threshing the corn.

When I went back through my library of pictures I found a range of examples where the implied line was obvious or at least reasonably certain. Usually these were where the eyes could be seen or where there was a specific point that could be seen to be the subject of the gaze. Where there was more than one person looking at the same point then this made life easier because it was easier to establish where they were looking by simple triangulation.

This image illustrates that point. The two adults who are turned away from us are both looking up and roughly towards the same area of the picture. At this point there is a young person performing a somersault. It would be safe to assume that this is the subject of their gaze.

In this image the series of triangles strongly suggest that the cars  are moving right to left and probably in a circle. The implied line is created by the points of the triangles.

Personally I found it much easier to look from right to left as the 'normal' way was uncomfortable