THEORY

that the upper lip advances slightly more than the lower one, and that the distance between the nose and mouth is very short in both cases.

Plate XLI offers various figures of the torso of a standing woman, where one can see that her natural posture is to have her legs and thighs close together, in accordance with the aforementioned guidelines. In plate XLII, there are other examples of the same rule in various figures of standing women.

In plate XLIII, several figures of standing women are shown, covered with draperies, inspired by some antique statues.

Plate XLIV is a Bacchanalian scene in the antique style, composed by Rubens.

It would have been desirable for Rubens to have applied the aforementioned principles to the proportions of the human body, both male and female, by selecting examples drawn from nature: however, since he makes no mention of this in his book, we will compensate for this omission by providing in a second volume, serving as a supplement to this one, a Collection of studies of various parts of the human body, and entire academies, drawn from nature, which may be consulted.

We will conclude this work with a precept taken from the art of painting by Alphonse Dufrenoy. He suggests that one can, in painting, commit all sorts of mistakes; like the trees in a forest, they multiply endlessly, and among the many paths that may mislead, there is only one that con-

Translation Notes:

- "Bacchanalian scene": refers to a depiction of a festival in honor of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine.

- "Academies": refers to studies or depictions of the human form in art, often used in teaching.