DRAWING. 



every swell or depression in them, which 

 is not the consequence of unnatural dis- 

 tortion : as there are certain limits to 

 their motion, he should be capable of as- 

 certaining those limits correctly from re- 

 membrance. It having pleased the divi- 

 nity to grant the human race the most 

 graceful variety of curved forms through- 

 out the exterior of their frames, and each 

 being subject to sudden and unexpected 

 changes, \ve may safely assert the artist 

 has a most difficult lask in his attempts to 

 delineate them, in order to do so suc- 

 cessfully, it would be well for him to imi- 

 tate the parts already mentioned from 

 good drawings, with black lead, or black 

 chalk, on either of the papers before re- 

 commended, endeavouring to give a close 

 resemblance of the outlines with char- 

 coal, and then shading with the greatest 

 care, after the original, in parallel lines 

 of greater or less strength, according 

 with the curve to be expressed, those to 

 be intersected by others forming lozenge 

 intervals ; this mechanical part of the art 

 of shading will be better explained by 

 the drawing copied from, than by any di- 

 rections, and much trouble will be saved 

 by using the middle tint paper ; but it 

 should he remembered, that though 

 black chalk can be used upon white pa- 

 per, black lead must be confined to it. 

 The shadows are sometimes softened off 

 by the stump, yet clear hatched lines in 

 the form above-mentioned have a better 

 effect, not that we would recommend the 

 servile resemblance of an engraving, imi- 

 tations of this description never failing 

 to injure the freedom of hand, essential 

 in drawing well. 



It is necessary that the student should 

 by no means depend upon his own judg- 

 ment in selecting drawings or prints for 

 copying ; those of acknowledged excel- 

 lence by or after the best masters are to 

 be exclusively preferred, otherwise error 

 would be perpetuated, and the arts 

 would fall into irrecoverable contempt ; 

 he will soon see the necessity for this pre- 

 caution, and learn to look with disgust 

 upon deformity and mediocrity. Suppos- 

 ing the student perfect in his imitations 

 of the different parts of the face, his next 

 step will be to draw the head in every 

 natural position, which forms an intro- 

 duction to the whole figure, admitting 

 him to have a competent knowledge of 

 the human skeleton and the muscles, as 

 those are the only branches of anatomy 

 useful in drawing ; to accomplish this, or 

 confirm his ideas, he should attend lec- 

 tures on that intricate science, confining 



his attention solely to the demonstrations 

 and observations applicable to his pur- 

 suits, afterwards examining their effects 

 as discoverable in a living subject, and in 

 drawing either from that, or good plaster 

 figures, he hould begin with the most 

 prominent muscles, which will facilitate 

 his progress with the less. 



The young artist ought, if practicable, 

 to visit the Royal Academy, London, 

 where he will see, at a glance, how the 

 light should be disposed to draw with 

 effect ; if that is impossible, he must re- 

 member to throw one light downward on 

 the object, whether it proceeds from the 

 day or a candle : and that he cannot too 

 strictly attend to the true proportions of 

 the body and limbs, as nothing is more 

 disgusting than to see a man with ahead 

 unnaturally large, an enormous mouth, 

 short legs, or too long arms ; to prevent 

 his falling into such errors, let him ob- 

 serve, that in a well-formed person, his 

 arms extended make a distance between 

 the extremities of the middle fingers 

 equal to his length ; that the face con- 

 sists of three exact divisions, from the 

 hair on the forehead to the eyes, from 

 the eyes to the bottom of the nose, and 

 from that to the chin. The whole figure is 

 ten faces in length; from the chin to the 

 collarbone is twice the length of the nose, 

 thence to the lowest part ofthe breast one 

 face, from that to the navel another, to the 

 groin one, to the upper part of the knee 

 two, the knee is half a face in length, 

 from the lower part of which to the 

 ancle is two faces, and hence to the sole 

 of the foot is one half. Measuring from 

 the extremes of the breast, the breadth 

 will be found to contain two faces, and 

 the bone of the arm from the shoulder 

 to the elbow, the same number; thence, 

 including part of the hand, two faces? 

 and from the shoulder-blade to the hol- 

 low between the collar-bones is one 

 face. The thumb is the length of the 

 nose ; from the commencement of the 

 hand to the middle of the arm is five 

 lengths of the nose : and from the pec- 

 toral muscle to the same place is four. 

 The great toe is of the length of the 

 nose, and the sole of the foot is the sixth 

 part of the length of the figure ; the 

 hands are double their breadth in length, 

 and when extended they are exactly the 

 length of the face. The breadth of the 

 limbs vary according to the state of 

 health in the body, and the particular si- 

 tuation ofthe muscles whenever moved. 



The proportions of children are ge- 

 nerally thus ; three heads in length from 



