396 DRAWING THE FIGURE. 



of the persons employed. The power of repre- 

 senting this mental picture on canvass is what we 

 call invention in a painter. 



In the conception of this ideal picture, all the 

 little circumstances should be contrived in such a 

 manner, that they shall strike the spectator no 

 more than they did himself in his conception 

 of the story. Thus there must be a principal 

 object, which should receive the principal mass 

 of light ; and though a second and third group 

 may be added, and a second and third mass of 

 light, yet they should be all kept so subordinate, 

 that they do not come in competition with the 

 principal. 



In the design or composition of a picture, sim- 

 plicity is of the first importance. The story should 

 be distinctly told, and nothing should be introduced 

 but what is absolutely necessary. 



Among the most difficult and important of the 

 higher branches of the art, is the expressions of the 

 passions. 



It is not enough for a painter to delineate the 

 most exquisite forms, give them the most graceful 

 attitudes, and compose them well together; he 

 must express by their actions and countenances the 

 state of their minds ; they must appear to feel and 

 to think. 



Many have written, and among the rest the 

 famous Le Brun, on the various changes that, 

 according to various passions, happen in the muscles 

 of the face. They observe, for example, that in 

 fits of anger, the face reddens, the muscles of the 

 lips puff out, the eyes sparkle ; and that, on the 

 contrary, in fits of melancholy, the eyes grow mo- 

 tionless and dead, the face pale, and the lips sink 

 in. It may be of service to a painter to read them 



