xliv 
AMERICAN PREFACE. 
THE HUMAN FIGURE. 
Even when we come to the artistic treatment of the human 
figure, we find four fundamental preliminaries, which can be 
taught with sufficient exactness to satisfy educational considera- 
tions. They are, the anatomy of the figure, the attitude or action 
of the figure, the elements of facial expression, the massing of the 
figure. It is by study of the skeleton that the ground knowledge 
of the proportions of the human figure and of the foreshortening 
of its parts, also of attitude or action, as indicated by sitting, 
Standing, walking, running, dancing, can be best acquired. This 
knowledge of its internal structure and varied movement is the 
only true basis for the artistic representation of the human figure. 
Facial expression is largely a matter of liues. Hence it is by a 
careful analysis of the face, by studying it line by line, that one 
can best learn to distinguish, first in extremes, then in gradations,' 
between anger and laughter, compassion and scorn, grief and joy, 
fear and confidence, vanity and pride, and so on to the end of the 
alphabet of character. The effect of each line when considered 
by its elf must be noted, must be learned with the most rigid pre- 
cision. It is easy to be seen in the study and representation of 
character, that the learner should, fcr pedagogical reasons, draw 
1, from flat copies, 2, from the cast, 3, from life. When one 
comes to the artistic representation of the whole figure, it is 
proper that he attend first to the masses or grand divisions, and 
not advance a step further until these have been properly rendered. 
To facilitate the study of the figure by masses, and to make the 
study severely accurate, the masses should be first treated as rigid 
geometrical solids, perfectly preserving the proportions and action 
of the figure. With the masses of the figure correct, then and 
only then is it time to attend to the variable details of nature. 
No matter how exact may be the rendering of the details, the 
whole result cannot be good, if the rendering of the masses of the 
figure is wrong and the action faulty. 1 Now, it is not at all a 
1 Mr. F. D. Millett, from the Antwerp School of Art, was one of the Mas 
sachusetts Commissioners to the Vienna Exposition. Tn his report on “ Fine 
Arts of the Present Times,” he makes the following remarks about the treat 
ment of the human figure: — 
” No argumenta are necessary to prove the value of a geueral indication of