THE ART OF DRAWING. 155 
portions in the female figure, where all appears rounder and more delicate ; 
the region of the hips too is quite differently proportioned. J%g. 18 repre- 
sents a male torso, in which the muscles are brought out more prominently. 
In order to be able to draw a figure with correctness and elegance, it is 
not sufficient to know the proportions of length and breadth as displayed in 
the finest antiques ; we must likewise know the anatomical and statical rules 
according to which the various parts of the body, in motions and attitudes, 
preserve their equilibrium. Here, too, the antique affords us the best 
information. For greater clearness we give an example. 
If we wish to draw a figure in the attitude of rest, the body must rest on 
one leg, say, as in jigs. 14 and 15, the left. The left hip will then become 
thicker, and must stand higher than the right; because the body, when 
resting upon the left leg, throws itself together on that side over the hip. 
The shoulders and hips must never stand parallel; while the right leg, 
thrown as it were out of use, is bent, the thigh being turned forwards and 
the leg backwards, the right arm must be raised, or in motion, while the 
left hangs down at ease. Nature itself teaches us this; for in walking and 
moving about, the left foot and right arm are advanced together, and vice 
versa, the hands must also move differently ; if we see the inside of one, 
we must be able to see the back of the other. When a person is walking, 
the hips swell out little or not at all, but the breast must always be thrown 
forwards perpendicularly over the advancing leg; when the right leg is 
thrown forwards the left elbow is thrown back. When a person is at rest 
the whole weight rests on the advanced foot ; the breast is thrown forwards, 
the head a little back; one foot is raised slightly from the ground. Dili- 
gent observation of correct works of art is calculated to afford more informa- 
tion with regard to the method of representing correctly, 2. e. naturally, 
than volumes of theoretical advice on drawing and painting. 
D. Composition. 
To compose, in the Fine Arts, is to give to an zdea which is to be con- 
veyed, the right expression and natural forms in artistical arrangement. 
The leading rule in all kinds of composition is to awm at beauty. Beauty 
in composition is identical with wnity of idea and form. Every picture 
ought to have only one prominent idea. »Our definition of artistical beauty 
contains therefore the law for compositions of more than one individual 
form. This law is: the composition must be a whole. No part of it must 
be overwrought, none slighted. All component parts must be essential, 
and must stand in relation to each other; not only in an inward or ideal 
relation, but also in an outer or visible one, so that every part may bear upon 
and contribute towards the composition as a whole. Some of the parts, 
those which give the principal expression to the composition, must predo- 
minate; others, those which assist towards and complete the total expres- 
sion aimed at, must be less prominent; all must be subordinate to a centre 
in space, which at the same time represents the central point of the idea; a 
centre which, while it is supported by the other parts, is itself the centre of 
their attraction and combination in an artistical whole. 
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