26a FIELD AND HEDGEROW. 



stooping and leaning to one side causes the right breast 

 to be lower than the left. By degrees the right breast 

 recedes and the left advances, and, standing at the full 

 left of the figure, there are three chief lines to notice — 

 that of the back seen in profile, of the torso, and of the 

 left thigh. The thigh is raised, and, so stretched, seems 

 slightly compressed near the knee. It is more rotund 

 than thick or heavy ; it is not so much size as round- 

 ness ; it is not mere plumpness, but form. 



A step farther and the back begins to appear, and 

 the outline of its right edge. Standing exactly at the 

 back, there is a remarkable flatness at the lower end of 

 the mesial groove. This flatness is somewhat in the 

 shape of an elongated diamond ; it is rather below the 

 loins, and is, I think, caused by the commencement or 

 upper part of the pelvis. In stooping and at the same 

 time leaning to one side, the flesh at this spot is drawn 

 tightly against the firm structure under the skin, so that 

 the flatness is almost, if not quite, hollow. Had the 

 sculptor been representing a goddess he would have 

 concealed this flatness in some way or other, or selected 

 a position which did not cause it, for the conventional 

 art-beauty must be equally rounded everywhere. Had 

 he been poorer in conception he would have slurred it 

 over, or not even observed it. The presence of this flat- 

 ness or slightly hollow surface demonstrates how true 

 the work is to reality. The statue is a personality, a 

 living thing. As the line of the horizon recedes at sea, 

 and that which now appears the edge or boundary is 

 presently sailed over, so the edge or outline of the body 

 recedes as you move around it. Another step, and the 

 right thigh and the right breast are in sight, with the 

 ends of the grooves. Lines that look almost straight 

 are changed, as you approach, into curves. The action 



