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instance, the beauty added by death to a face originally of very fine proportions has nothing to do with metaphysical causes, so I believe it is the case in every instance, the faint smile being caused by the last slight convulsion after all consciousness has ceased.

From sheer indolence great mistakes are often made in the representations of death. Painters sometimes omit to leave the mouth open, and I have seen a naked corpse painted with the chest raised, as it could only be in the act of drawing breath, studied, of course, from a living model.

SECTION VIII.

On Drawing.

Ir is the practice in all schools in which drawing the human figure is taught, to begin with the antique; accompanied with the study of so much of anatomy as shall enable the painter to understand the causes of all the varieties of form and action.

Sir Joshua Reynolds frequently, and forcibly, and, I think, convincingly, inculcates the importance to the young painter of having the palette on his hand at the very commencement of his studies. He recommends that he should paint his studies as well as draw them, and it is probable he meant his studies from sculpture as well as those from nature; and I know it was the practice of one of our most distinguished living artists, and of some of his fellow-students, to paint from the casts in the Royal Academy.

Stothard showed me some exquisite drawings of his own from the antique, with pen and ink only, the shadows being beautifully hatched in the manner of line engravings. He told me he adopted this method because, as he could not obliterate a line, it obliged him to think before he touched his paper; and no doubt it contributed to that certainty of hand and accuracy of eye which was so valuable to him in after life.

In the study of the antique marbles, an observing eye will soon discover that they are far from being of equal perfection. Many have been injured by restoration, which fortunately, however, the Elgin fragments have escaped, and it may be hoped will for ever escape; and many are not of the best times, which have always been the briefest times of Art. If the remains of Roman sculpture, whether by Greek or native artists, are not, on the whole, equal to the Greek Art of the Phidian era, they yet abound with works, for the preservation of which we cannot be too thankful. The mighty Farnese Hercules, and the Belvidere Apollo "coming forth as a bridegroom," are "for all time." Critics may find fault, and I remember that when the Elgin Theseus arrived in England, attempts were made to degrade the Hercules and Apollo by comparisons with a noble work as matchless as themselves; attempts that fully proved the wisdom of Constable's remark, that "no fine things will bear or want comparisons; every fine thing is unique."

There is, however, one celebrated antique in the attitude of which a serious defect has been pointed out by Dr. Spurzheim, a defect for which not all its excellence can atone. The hero, misnamed "The Fighting Gladiator," throws himself forward to attack, while his left arm is raised in defence; and yet a blow from a child on that arm would knock him to the ground; the right leg, which should render the attitude a firm one, being advanced instead of the other. Indeed, Nature would dictate a contrary position of the legs without any knowledge of the

science of defence, as will be at once felt if we attempt to place ourselves in the attitude. How such a serious fault should have been committed it is difficult to conceive. The only conjecture is, that the position of the limbs was arranged by the sculptor as a matter of composition, without, what would have been the better mode, desiring a living model to place himself in a fighting attitude.

Though the Royal Academy requires the attainment of a considerable degree of power in drawing from the antique before the student is admitted to the life, yet (out of school) the young painter cannot begin too soon to draw from nature, and particularly heads and hands; and in such practice, as well as when admitted to the life school, what is before him should be carefully copied without any attempt to improve defective forms. Nothing else need be said to recommend this mode of study than that it was practised by Flaxman and by Stothard.

A knowledge of anatomy may be abused, like all other knowledge, by its ostentatious display, or by allowing theories formed upon it to supersede observation. Both these causes contributed to faults in the forms of a late eminent painter, who was yet an enthusiastic admirer of the Elgin marbles, works not more remarkable for their anatomical truth than for its unobtrusiveness. Mr. Haydon was not only thoroughly acquainted with the structure and uses of the human bones and muscles, but he had paid much attention to comparative anatomy, and thence formed a theory of the ideal, which consisted in giving an emphasis to those peculiarities of form

which distinguish the man from the brute, where the character was to be noble; and where ignoble, in adding something of the brute peculiarities to the human form. Thus he raised the forehead and exaggerated its width, to express intellect, to an appearance of disease; and arched the bones of the foot (that it might deviate as much as possible from the flat foot of the monkey) into a form that would not be admired in nature, and that is not to be found in the best antiques.

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As the Autobiography and Lectures of this extraordinary man will always be read with great interest, the student should be placed on his guard against the occasional carelessness of his assertions. · In his second lecture, for instance, he tells us that 'Raphael, instigated by his genius, adhered to the head and face as immediate vehicles of expression, and he gave the head an undue preponderance as to size. The Greeks generally made their figures seven, seven and a half, eight heads, and even nine heads high. Raphael seldom more than six, and sometimes five." This is quite untrue, as an examination of the cartoons will prove. Many of the figures in these would certainly measure eight heads, and I doubt if one can be found to measure so few as five or even six heads high. It is probable Raphael did not take the trouble to apply the compasses to his figures, as the same personages in different subjects differ in their proportions. At any rate it will be evident to any practised eye that the figures, generally, in the cartoons, as in the other works of Raphael, though

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