It is necessary that the student should by no means depend upon his own judg ment in selecting drawings or prints for copying ; those of acknowledged excel lence by or after the best masters are to be exclusively preferiled, otherwise error would be perpetuated, and the arts Would fall into irrecoverable contempt ; he will soon see the necessity for this pre caution, and learn to look with disgust upon deformity and mediocrity. Suppos ing the student perfect in his imitations of the different parts of the'face, his next step will be to draw the head in every natural position, which forms an intro duction to the whole figure, admitting him to have a competent knowledge of the human skeleton and the muscles, as those are the only branches of anatomy useful in drawing ; to accomplish this, or confirm his ideas, he should attend lec tures on that intricate science, confining prominent muscles, which will facilitate his progress with the less.
The young artist ought, if practicable, to visit the Royal Academy, London, where he will see, at a glance, how the light should be disposed to draw with effect ; if that is impossible, he must re member to throw one light downward on the object, whether it proceeds from the day or a candle : and that he cannot too strictly attend to the true proportions of the body and limbs, as nothing is more disgusting than to see a man with a head unnaturally large, an enormous mouth, short legs, or too long arms ; to prevent his" falling into such errors, let him ob serve, that in a well-formed person, his arms extended make a distance between the extremities of the middle fingers equal to his length ; that the face con sists of three exact divisions, from the hair on the forehead to the eyes, from the eyes to the bottom of the nose, and from that to the chin. The whole figure is ten faces in length ; from the chin to the collar bone is twice the length of the nose, thence to the lowest part ofthe breast one face, from that to the navel another, to the groin one, to the upper part of the knee two, the knee is half a face in length, from the lower part of which to the ancle is two faces, and hence to the sole of the foot is one half. Measuring from the extremes of the breast, the breadth will be found to contain two faces, and the bone of the arm from the shoulder to the elbow, the same number ; thence, including part of the hand, two faces; and from the shoulder-blade to the hol low between the collar-bones is one face. The thumb is the length of the nose ; from the commencement of the hand to the middle of the arm is five lengths of the nose : and from the pec toral muscle to the same place is four. The great toe is of the length of the nose, and the sole of the foot is the sixth part of the length of the figure ; the hands are double their breadth in length, and when extended they are exactly the length of the face. The breadth of the
limbs vary according to thestate of health in the body, and the particular si. tuati on of the muscles whenever moved.
The proportions of children are ge nerally thus ; three heads in length from the crown of the head to the groin, and thence to the so e of the foot two, one head and a halt between the shoulders, one of the body between the hips and armpits; the breadth of the limbs should be ascertained from a healthy child.
It is perhaps impossible to draw a per fectly beautiful figure from any one per son : the most skilful statuaries and pain ters, sensible of this fact, have composed their finest works from different sub jects, as it is very common for the pos sessor of a truly Grecian head to have a deformed trunk, or another to have graceful limbs and the face of a gorgon. To draw a figure correctly, the intended length should be marked, and all the preceding admeasurements strictly ad hered to, beginning the sketch on the left hand, with the head, following with the shoulders, the trunk, the leg most in action, then the other, finishing with the arms, and making the outline perfect be fore any part is finished ; as we may ima gine'a living or plaster model placed be fore the student, that will serve better for improving him than any written in structions, but he will find the greatest difficulty in correctly copying the eyes, mouth, ears, hands, and feet, and should consequently be particularly careful when employed on those parts to which rules are utterly inapplicable.
To represent the passions well, every possible attention must be paid to their particular influence on the muscular system ; certain determinate attitudes fol low each sensation of the soul, and it is the muscles which express their energy ; in sleeping or quiescent bodies, they are not obtruded on the view ; but when their action is excited by some pleasing or horrible cause, they become tense, or relax, and are partially very prominent ; the Locoon, and several of the single figures of gladiators, are good studies for the muscles ; indeed the modern brethren of the latter, of pugilistic cele brity, might afford many useful hints of manly exertion : it should be recollected, that the most violent emotions of the fe male sex do not produce the same ap pearances in their muscles as is observa ble from similar causes in men, it would therefore be very improper to ;hew them as prominently ; in addition, persons in the lower ranks of life ought to be re presented more muscular than the mem bers of the highest orders of the com munity. (See article Muscles, imAxaxQ otu).