ivet our attention, and although it is
gone in a flash, the memory of the impression will remain for some time.

The best of Holbein's portrait drawings give one the impression of
having been seen in one of these flashes and rivet the attention in
consequence. Drawings done under this mental stimulus present subtle
differences from drawings done with cold accuracy. The drawing of the
Lady Audley, here reproduced, bears evidence of some of this subtle
variation on what are called the facts, in the left eye of the sitter.
It will be noticed that the pupil of this eye is larger than the other.
Now I do not suppose that as a matter of mechanical accuracy this was
so, but the impression of the eyes seen as part of a vivid impression
of the head is seldom that they are the same size. Holbein had in the
first instance in this very carefully wrought drawing made them so, but
when at the last he was vitalising the impression, "pulling it together"
as artists say, he has deliberately put a line outside the original one,
making this pupil larger. This is not at all clearly seen in the
reproduction, but #is distinctly visible in the original#. And to my
thinking it was done at the dictates of the vivid mental impression he
wished his drawing to convey. Few can fail to be struck in turning over
this wonderful series of drawings by the vividness of their portraiture,
and the vividness is due to their being severely accurate to the vital
impression on the mind of Holbein, not merely to the facts coldly
observed.

[Illustration: Plate LIII.

THE LADY AUDLEY. HOLBEIN (WINDSOR)

Note the different sizes of pupils in the eyes, and see letterpress on
the opposite page.

_Copyright photo Braun & Co._]

* * * * *

Another point of view is that of seeking in the face a symbol of the
person within, and selecting those things about a head that express
this. As has already been said, the habitual attitude of mind has in the
course of time a marked influence on the form of the face, and in fact
of the whole body, so that--to those who can see--the man or woman is a
visible symbol of themselves. But this is by no means apparent to all.

The striking example of this class is the splendid series of portraits
by the late G.F. Watts. Looking at these heads one is made conscious of
the people in a fuller, deeper sense than if they were before one in the
flesh. For Watts sought to discover the person in their appe