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some slight corrections of the original design in the direction of
modifying the attitude and general appearance of the figure. This would
be rendered necessary, probably by the bulk and material of the drapery.
So far, of course, the artist's attention is engaged exclusively by
'form,' 'colour' being always treated more or less ideally. The figure
is now placed in its surroundings, and established in exact relation to
the canvas. The result is the first true sketch of the entire design,
figure and background, and is built up of the two previous ones. It must
be absolutely accurate in the distribution of spaces, for it has
subsequently to be 'squared off' on to the canvas, which is ordered to
the exact scale of the sketch. At this moment, the design being finally
determined, the sketch in oil colours is made. It has been deferred till
now, because the placing of the colours is, of course, of as much
importance as the harmony. This done, the canvas is for the first time
produced, and thereon is enlarged the design, the painter re-drawing the
outline--never departing a hair's breadth from the outlines and forms
already obtained--and then highly finishing the whole figure in warm
monochrome from the life. Every muscle, every joint, every crease is
there, although all this careful painting is shortly to be hidden with
the draperies; such, however, is the only method of insuring absolute
correctness of drawing. The fourth stage completed, the artist
returns once more to his brown paper, re-copies the outline accurately
from the picture, on a larger scale than before, and resumes his studies
of draperies in greater detail and with still greater precision, dealing
with them in sections, as parts of a homogeneous whole. The draperies
are now laid with infinite care on to the living model, and are made to
approximate as closely as possible to the arrangement given in the first
sketch, which, as it was not haphazard, but most carefully worked out,
must of necessity be adhered to. They have often to be drawn piecemeal,
as a model cannot by any means always retain the attitude sufficiently
long for the design to be wholly carried out at one cast. This
arrangement is effected with special reference to painting--that is to
say, giving not only form and light and shade, but also the relation and
'values' of tones. The draperies are drawn over, and are made to conform
exactly to the forms copied from the nudes of the underpainted pict