a few simple, dominant
quantities that simplify the appearance and give it a unity which is
readily grasped except where violence and lack of repose are wanted. The
simpler the proportion is, the more sublime will be the impression, and
the more complicated, the livelier and more vivacious the effect. From a
few well-chosen large proportions the eye may be led on to enjoy the
smaller varieties. But in good proportion the lesser parts are not
allowed to obtrude, but are kept in subordination to the main
dispositions on which the unity of the effect depends.

XVII

PORTRAIT DRAWING

There is something in every individual that is likely for a long time to
defy the analysis of science. When you have summed up the total of atoms
or electrons or whatever it is that goes to the making of the tissues
and also the innumerable complex functions performed by the different
parts, you have not yet got on the track of the individual that governs
the whole performance. The effect of this personality on the outward
form, and the influence it has in modifying the aspect of body and
features, are the things that concern the portrait draughtsman: the
seizing on and expressing forcefully the individual character of the
sitter, as expressed by his outward appearance.

This character expression in form has been thought to be somewhat
antagonistic to beauty, and many sitters are shy of the particular
characteristics of their own features. The fashionable photographer,
knowing this, carefully stipples out of his negative any #striking#
characteristics in the form of his sitter the negative may show. But
judging by the result, it is doubtful whether any beauty has been
gained, and certain that interest and vitality have been lost in the
process. Whatever may be the nature of beauty, it is obvious that what
makes one object more beautiful than another is something that is
characteristic of the appearance of the one and not of the other: so
that some close study of individual characteristics must be the aim of
the artist who would seek to express beauty, as well as the artist who
seeks the expression of character and professes no interest in beauty.

Catching the likeness, as it is called, is simply seizing on the
essential things that belong only to a particular individual and
differentiate that individual from others, and expressing them in a
forceful manner. There are certain things that are common to the whole
species, likeness