This text discusses different human expressions and actions, such as wrath, jealousy, and repentance, and how they can be depicted or faked in art. It provides details on the physical gestures and postures that convey these emotions. Additionally, it touches on the artificial nature of some actions, comparing them to theatrical performances where expressions lack true origin.
The Human Figures, &c.
Outlined in these Artistic Words.
The head entirely thick, swollen with wrath,
So that one could see all its veins.
Its eyes caught a fiercer fire
Than ever the Gorgonic snakes.
Jealousy in oneself without any action can be easily expressed by a sideways glance, and as if muttering inside one's mouth.
An action of repentance requires placing the right hand on the chest, sometimes open, sometimes closed. At times, the head slightly tilts backward, leaning towards the left shoulder; also sometimes bent forward toward the ground, but then it should lean to the right side. The left hand may also hang down beside the body; the fingers fairly open.
An action of feigned cowardly fear, fabricated amazement, and vanity, was mostly signified by raising the shoulders: For just as humans often try to help this act with hunched shoulders, so are all the other actions that are necessary with other limbs, not innate but artificial; and the expression of the face does not entirely match with the actions of the limbs; because neither has a true cause, and the thoughts often beset with various ideas do not govern the mentioned things as precisely, unless they naturally emerge from a sincere mind. And just as in tragedies, or drama plays, and in the farces or comedies, the actions and passions do not have a true origin.