Facial Expression, Varied Airs, and Eight Forms of the Nose
Composing narratives on one wall and classifying the sides of the nose
A fair-copy text page that continues a rule on picture composition, warning against stacking several narratives with different horizons on one wall like the little boxes of a haberdasher's shop. It then describes how mental states move the face, insists faces be given varied airs according to age and nature, and begins an eightfold classification of the sides of the nose. A few small pen sketches of an eye and nose profiles sit in the lower right margin; they carry no transcribed captions.
On this page
Do not stack narratives with different horizons on one wall
Your pictured stories should not be one above another on the same wall with different horizons, so that the whole looks like a haberdasher's shop with its little square boxes. The composition must serve the single event depicted.
Mental accidents move the face, and the hands with it
The states of mind move a man's face in various ways: one laughs, one weeps, one rejoices, one grows sad, others show anger, pity, wonder, fright, dullness, or thoughtful speculation. Such expressions must be accompanied by the hands and the whole person.
Give faces varied airs by age and nature
See that the faces are not all of one same air, as most painters do; make different airs according to the ages, complexions, and natures, whether bad or good.
Eight forms of the sides of the nose
The parts that flank the ridge of the nose vary in eight ways: equally straight; equally concave; equally convex; unequally straight, concave, and convex; straight above and concave below; straight above and convex below; concave above and straight below; and so on through the eighth.
Small marginal sketches of eye and noses
A few small pen sketches of a human eye and two nose profiles are drawn in the lower right of the page, illustrating the facial-feature classifications set out in the text.