AMERICAN P RE FACE. 
xlv 
matter of vague feeling, — this preliminary study of the human 
figure : what there is to learn is of a rigidly precise character, and 
altogether teachable according to ordinary pedagogical methods. 
Yet the artist who lacks this knowledge lacks that which is essen 
tial to the highest success in the representation of the human form 
and spirit, in activity or repose. Ilowever delicate his aesthetic 
feeling, he can never be a master of his art. 
But such a view of the proper method of beginning to study llie 
human iigure for artistic purposes implies a deal of preliminary 
work, of drudgery some maj^ call it, before results are reached. 
That, however, is true of other things, — of law, medicine, engi- 
neering. Results are reached in these things only after long, 
laborious study. There are those, indeed, who, laughing at study, 
rely lipon inspiration, upon the vigor of their untrained genius ; 
or more, perhaps, upon the credulity of the public. Such are 
called quacks in medicine, pettifoggers in law. Is there not 
also danger of quacks in art, if hard, systematic study, if foun- 
dation principles and rational beginnings, are ignored? In the 
artistic study of the human figure, to begin with the cast is to 
begin where the master left off, and to begin with the living form 
is to begin with nature’s elaborate product. The learner, in the 
first instance, ignores all the preliminary steps take’n by the 
the character, as opposed to neglect of grand lines and movement« in the elab- 
oration of minutire. A few charcoal lines, giving the direction of the mem- 
bers, and indicating in tiie simplest way tlie action of a figure, are more 
indieative of the impression the figure makes upon the apectator, than the 
moat carefully studied drawing of the same object, wliere the grand lines fail 
and the action ia faulty. Any one who has drawn the figure knows the value 
of the first few strokes, indicating, not the sum-total of the impression made 
on tlie mind, but the characteristics of it. Tlien, in teaehing, show the begin- 
ner the grand movements of the body, the most characteristic contoura. and 
the just relation of tlie masses; inatruct him how the branches vary in differ 
ent species of trees, how the foliage ia maased in each, and everywhere inaist 
on grand character and simplicity. The importance of detail ia, in general, 
the uppermost idea in the beginner’s mind, and the inatructor will rarely liave 
to insiat on this quality in beginners’ work. As for finish, this acquirement 
comea of itaelf: certainly enough skill in this direction will be gained by the 
pupil long before he has learned the grand lesaona of his profession.” 
Any peraon familiär with the general principles which are regarded by the 
best educators as underlying all good instruction, no matter what the subject 
taught, would say at once, though he had never drawn a line in his life, that 
the general prineiples enunciated by Mr. Millett must be correct. All other 
things, when well taught, are taught in the same way: first the masses, then 
the details. Thus it is with history, with grammar, with geography, with 
arithmetic even, with botany, with zoölogy, with chemistry.