262 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- 
ess ; 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 sca, 
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 
