Variety of Men and Learning Their Movements from Life
Never repeat faces or gestures; observe and sketch men's true actions unawares
This page of the Treatise on Painting finishes the catalogue of the varied men a narrative needs, cheerful and melancholy, curly-haired and straight, with quick or slack movements and diverse garments, and warns that it is a supreme fault to make faces resemble one another or to repeat the same actions. A new chapter, 'On learning the movements of man', teaches that these should be studied after knowing the limbs and the whole; the painter is to observe men's actions in their real circumstances without their noticing, since awareness would make them abandon the true vehemence of their gestures, as with two angry men disputing. Passions such as anger, laughter, weeping, grief, wonder and fear cannot be feigned convincingly, so the painter should carry a small book of primed paper and note such movements and the bystanders' actions with a silver stylus.
On this page
Never repeat a face or an action in a scene
A narrative requires men of every kind, cheerful and melancholy, with hair curly and straight, quick and slack of movement, in varied dress. It is a supreme fault in a painter to make faces that resemble one another, and repeating the same actions is a great vice.
Observe men's true movements unawares
After learning the limbs and the whole, study men's movements by watching their actions in real circumstances without their noticing, for awareness makes them abandon the vehemence of a gesture. Two angry men in dispute, each sure he is right, move brows, arms and limbs with a fierceness no posed model could feign.
Note movements with a silver stylus in a primed book
Because passions like anger, laughter, weeping, grief, wonder and fear cannot be feigned convincingly, the painter should carry a small book of primed paper and briefly note such movements with the silver stylus, along with the bystanders' actions and arrangement; this teaches how to compose narratives.