PRINCIPLES OF ART COMPOSITION. 317 



see the hands engaged in holding some object, in 

 supporting the body, in resting upon other parts 

 of the body. Such hands are not free to express 

 the emotions; they express no other conditions 

 than fatigue, rest, sleep, etc., states of mental 

 inactivity. 



I think there can be no doubt that the mobile 

 conditions of expression, being the direct outcome 

 of brain action, are higher in artistic value than 

 mere proportions and signs of body growth ; mere 

 representations by colour effects are, I suppose, the 

 least intellectual of all art productions, but not 

 necessarily, therefore, the least pleasing. 



Principles of Analysis and Composition. Cer- 

 tain principles, derived from scientific study, may 

 be suggested to the artist as likely to be useful in 

 the analysis and composition of figures; they are 

 the same as those given in chap. ix. ; but it seems 

 convenient here to put them in the form of rules 

 and propositions. We have, then, in analyzing or 

 composing a figure, to consider the proportions of 

 the body, the more permanent and fixed conditions 

 of the body (coincident development), and also 

 the mobile expression. 



The " principles " are applied to the analysis of 

 the typical postures in the tables in chap. ix. 



I. "Anatomical analysis." In any figure-draw- 

 ing the posture of every joint and part should be 

 considered, and it should be possible, not only for 

 the artist to see each posture in his imagination, 

 but the looker-on at the picture should see the 

 postures in each portion of the figure intended to 



