Page:Thoughts on art and life.djvu/171

stands the subjecft of their argument. I once saw at Florence a man who had become deaf by an accident, who, if you spoke loud to him, did not understand you, but if you spoke gently, without making any noise, he understood you merelyby the movement of the lips.

Now you can say, Does not one who talks loudly move his lips like one who talks softly? In regard to this I leave experiment to decide: make a man speak gently to you and note his lips.

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How the ages of man should be depicfted: that is, infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, old age, decrepitude. How old men should be depicfted, with lazy and slow movements, their legs bent at the knees when they stand still, and their feet placed parallel and apart, their backs bent, their heads leaning forward and their arms only slightly extended.

How women should be represented in modest attitudes, their legs close together, their arms folded together, their heads bent and inclined to one side.

How old women should be represented with eager, vehement and angry gestures, like the furies of Hades; the movement of the arms and the head should be more violent than that of the legs. Little children with ready and twisted movements when sitting, and when standing up in shy and timid attitudes. 

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