The Legs



 
It would be well for you in your studies of the figure to take up the arm and hand, after having settled their proportions, during one complete sitting. They are rarely posed twice alike. Their capacity for movement is endless, and is responsible for most of the conscientious painter's grey hairs.
No wonder Van Dyck told his friends with some glee that he had at last found a model with a good hand who could pose it well. While working in England as Charles L's Court painter, he obviously used this model for most of his hands. The graceful sitter, as he found, gives no great trouble, but the " stick " is hopeless. The awkward sitter's hands are frequently hardly recognisable as hands. Still there is always something so individual about them that, when at all possible, you should let your hands be the hands of Esau, and not a substitute.



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