Balancing on One Foot; the Extended Arm Shifts the Weight
Figures b and c bend and shift weight; the ropewalker's open arms; center of gravity, supports, and speed
This leaf carries three small pen studies of a standing male nude, labelled c, b, and a, illustrating the text's discussion of how a man breaks the strict rule of ponderation: sometimes bending laterally on a single foot, sometimes unloading weight onto the bent knee, as shown in figures b and c. A chapter explains that extending a drawn-in arm shifts the whole ponderation of the body over the supporting foot, as in a tightrope walker who balances with open arms and no pole. A further rule ties the speed of movement to the distance between the center of gravity and the center of the supports: the nearer the supports lie to the plumb-line of the center of gravity, the slower the motion, and the farther, the swifter. A closing rubric opens the topic of a man carrying a weight on his shoulders.
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Figures b and c: bending on one foot and unloading the knee
A man does not always keep the strict ponderation of his limbs over the center of gravity; sometimes he bends laterally while standing on a single foot, and sometimes shifts part of his weight onto the leg bent at the knee, as shown in the two figures b c. What figure c does not do with the shoulders it does at the hip.
The extended arm shifts the whole ponderation (the ropewalker)
Extending a drawn-in arm moves the entire ponderation of the body over the supporting foot, the prop of the whole. This is seen in one who walks the rope with open arms and no other balancing pole.
Center of gravity, supports, and the speed of motion
The nearer the center of an animal's legs (its supports) lies to the vertical drop of its center of gravity, the slower its movement will be; conversely, the farther the center of the supports lies from that plumb-line, the swifter its motion. This governs how far a figure may lean while standing or moving.