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LDE ENGL1721


A Treatise on Painting, by Leonardo da Vinci
1721
Senex and Taylor, London


Chapter

LDE T0320   CID202  Of the Disposition of the Members, in turning the Body round

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With regard to the Disposition of the Members, observe that in representing a Person turning, either backwards, or aside, you never show his Feet, and the other Members directed the same way with the Head; but let them rather share the Action among them, and form a kind of Contrast, or Contrariety in the four Principal Jonctures; which are those of the Feet, the Knees, the Haunches, and the Neck: So that if the Figure stand on its Right Leg, let the Left Knee be bent, and drawn backwards; its Foot a little rais'd, and spread outwards; and the Left Shoulder somewhat higher than the Right: Let the Nape of the Neck be turn'd directly over the outer Ankle Bone of the Left Foot; and the Left Shoulder hang perpendicularly over the Toe of the Right Foot. Further, let it be a standing Rule with you, never to turn the Head of your Figures the same way with the Breast; Nature having so contrived the Neck, that it turns with ease, on every occasion of looking around us: Lastly, to represent a Man sitting, and at work with his Arms, upon any thing side-wise of him, remember that his Stomach be turn'd over the Joncture of the Haunch.