The question of what beauty is has resisted adequate definition for centuries. Some, such as Vitruvius, Alberti and Leonardo Da Vinci, have sought to understand beauty in terms of the characteristics of the apprehended object. In visual art and architecture this may be reduced to symmetry, proportion, harmony and so on, while in music it may be beat, harmony and rhythm. But what are the characteristics that confer beauty on a more complex scene, such as a theatrical, operatic or cinematic one? And what would the characteristics of moral beauty be?