Depicting Children, Old Men, and Women; Variety of Beauty
Attitudes proper to each age and sex, and the individuality of facial beauty
Two short chapters affirm that facial beauty can be equally excellent yet never identical across different people, and that even equally skilled judges will disagree in ranking such beauties. The page then gives rules for depicting figures by age and sex: little children with quick, twisted poses when seated and timid ones when standing; old men slow and bent-kneed, backs stooped and heads bowed; and women modest, with limbs drawn together and heads inclined to one side. All content is text in Melzi's clear hand.
On this page
Facial beauty differs in every person (chapters 140-141)
The beauties of faces may be of equal excellence in different persons but never alike in form, being as varied as the people to whom they belong. Even judges of equal intelligence will rank such equal beauties very differently and disagree in their preferences.
Depicting little children (chapter 142)
Little children should be shown with quick and twisted attitudes when seated, and with timid, fearful attitudes when standing upright.
Depicting old men (chapter 143)
Old men should be made with lazy, slow movements and knees bent when they stand still, feet set apart, the back sloping down, the head bowed forward, and the arms not too outstretched.
Depicting women (chapter 144)
Women should be depicted with modest attitudes: the legs pressed close together, the arms gathered in, and the head low and inclined to one side.