The Complete Guide to Artistic Anatomy

The Complete Guide to Artistic Anatomy

John C. L. Sparkes

William H. Gates

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2010, is an unabridged republication of the third edition of the work, as originally published by Baillière, Tindall and Cox, London, in 1922 under the title A Manual of Artistic Anatomy for the Use of Students in Art.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sparkes, John C. L. (John Charles Lewis)

[Manual of artistic anatomy for the use of students in art]

The complete guide to artistic anatomy / John C. L. Sparkes ; revised, and with additional text and illustrations by William H. Gates.—Dover ed.

p. cm.

Originally published: A manual of artistic anatomy for the use of students in art. 3rd ed. London : Baillière, Tindall and Cox, 1922.

9780486136561

1. Anatomy, Artistic. I. Gates, William H. II. Title.

NC760.S7 2010

743.4'9—dc22

2010021937

Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation

47941201

www.doverpublications.com

PREFACE

THE ready sale of the two editions of this work which have been previously published clearly shows that it has fulfilled its purpose as an educational manual.

In the present edition two more plates and 118 illustrations in the text have been added, and the book is now an exhaustive treatise upon the subject with which it deals.

As to the method of using the book we cannot do better than quote the instructions given by Mr. Sparkes in the first edition of the work as follows :

The method of study to be pursued by the student should be one that will utilize the written description, while actually drawing the skeleton, so that each projection, groove, or other peculiarity that is mentioned in the book may be observed on the bones and indicated in the sketch of the student.

As to the muscles, it is difficult, and often for the artist impossible, to study them in the dissecting-room ; therefore drawings should be made from the plates. In doing this, the student should be very careful to become acquainted with the origin and insertion of the muscle under observation, so as to trace the course it must necessarily take in passing from one point to another. This observation should be verified on the model if possible ; at any rate, the form of each muscle in the casts from antique statues that are in common use in our schools should be carefully followed.

Only those depressions, ridges, expansions, or other points of interest which have any importance for an artist are dwelt upon; these are of consequence, either because the bone is near the surface of the body, and thus directly influences the form, or because the elevations, ridges, or processes are necessary to be known, that we may follow the direction and destination of muscles which are attached to them.

The student in the life school is advised to make anatomical sketches of the living model he is drawing; this is best done away from the model. The sketch should be compared with the work done from nature, and should be corrected by reference to the model. The same practice, to some extent, may be followed by the students in the antique school, though the conventional form of portions of the casts from the antique is often a source of difficulty to the student.

It may be necessary to remark that, although the artist’s study of anatomy should never cease, it is not so important a subject as to demand from the young painter time that would be better spent in acquiring the handicraft of his profession ; also that highly finished drawings are not necessary for the intelligent study of this subject, and that when a knowledge of the bones and muscles is gained, it is but one of the aids towards the full education of the artist’s observation, not in any sense an end to his practical study.

For the application of anatomy to figure drawing the reader is referred to a work entitled The Art of Drawing the Human Figure Simplified, by the same author, which has been written as a sequel to the present book.

WILLIAM H. GATES.

COALBROOKDALE,

SHROPSHIRE.

February, 1922.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

PREFACE

Table of Figures

THE PROPORTIONS OF A HUMAN ADULT

DEFINITIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN FIGURE

THE HUMAN SKELETON: ITS ELEMENTS, ITS JOINTS, ITS FITNESS FOR THE ERECT ATTITUDE

THE BONES

THE MUSCLES

THE SUPERFICIAL VEINS

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN FIGURE

THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN RACE

THE HUMAN BODY SHORTLY AFTER DEATH

THE PLATES

Table of Figures

Fig.1

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Fig. 12

Fig. 13

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

FIG. 9

Fig. 10

Fig. 11

Fig. 12

Fig. 13

Fig. 14

Fig. 15

FIG. 16

FIG. 17

FIG. 18

FIG. 19

FIG. 20

FIG. 21

FIG. 22

FIG. 23

FIG. 24

FIG. 25

FIG. 26

FIG. 27

FIG. 28

FIG. 29

FIG. 30

FIG. 31

FIG. 32

FIG. 33

FIG. 34

FIG. 35

FIG. 36

FIG. 37

FIG. 38

FIG. 39

Fig. 40

Fig. 41

Fig. 42

Fig. 43

Fig. 44

Fig. 45

Fig. 46

Fig. 47

Fig. 48

FIG. 49

FIG. 50

FIG. 51

FIG. 52

FIG. 53

FIG. 54

FIG. 55

FIG. 56

FIG. 57

FIG. 58

FIG. 59

FIG. 60

FIG. 61

FIG. 62

Fig. i

Fig. ii

Fig. i

Fig. ii

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Fig. ii

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Fig. ii

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Fig. ii

Fig. iii

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Fig. ii

Fig. iii

Fig. iv

Fig. v

Fig. i

Fig. ii

Fig. i

Fig. ii

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Fig. iii

Fig. iv

Fig. i

Fig. ii

Fig. i

Fig. ii

Fig. iii

Fig. iv

Fig. i

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Fig. iii

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Fig. iii

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Fig. i

Fig. iv

Fig. ii

FIG. V

FIG. VI

FIG. VII

Fig.1 - Fig. 2 - Fig. 3 - Fig. 4 - Fig. 9 - Fig. 10 - Fig. 11

THE PROPORTIONS OF A HUMAN ADULT

PLATES A AND B.

CORRECTNESS of proportion is the first necessity of figure drawing, and therefore we must begin by considering the proportions of a human adult.

Figs. 1 to 4 are diagrams of a man, and Figs. 5 to 8 are those of a woman. In each set of drawings a similar arrangement of lines enclose spaces which have the given proportion to the height of the heads of the figures. It will be manifest that, by thus taking the height of the head as the unit of measurement and making the figure correct in proportion to it, we make all parts of the figure in due proportion to each other.

inches. Scales in accordance with these measurements are given, by means of which the full size of any part of the diagrams may be ascertained. The block forms of the bones (except those of the head, hands, and feet) are shown. Therefore these diagrams enable us to compare the proportions of a man with those of a woman, and also to ascertain the size and position of the bones in each.

The male and the female figures are each shown as seven and a half heads high, but as the head of a woman is about half an inch less in height than that of a man, it will be evident that the woman has been represented as about three and a half inches shorter than the man, and this is the average difference in their heights.

The diagrams have, as far as possible, been made self-explanatory, and therefore no elaborate explanation of them is necessary ; but the student should particularly notice the position of the point at half the height of the figure (see Figs. 2 and 6); also that the line numbered 2 passes through the nipples and touches the lower corners of the blade-bones (scapulæ) ; that line number 3 is on a level with the top of the haunch-bones (innominate bones), and it also gives the position of the umbilicus in a man, but in a woman the navel is a little above this line ; that when the arm is extended the elbow is half-way between the shoulder and the knuckle of the middle finger (see Figs. 4 and 8) ; and that in a standing figure the position of the knee may be ascertained by the method shown at A, B in Figs. 2 and 6. When testing the proportions of a figure all measurements should be taken from parts where the bones are subcutaneous, for if a person be either fat or thin the size of their bones will be the same, and only the fleshy portions of the figure will vary accordingly. The proportions of the head of an adult (which are the same in both sexes) are shown in Figs. 9 and 10. If the height of any required representation of the head of an adult be divided into eighteen equal parts, each part will represent half an inch in a man’s head, and a trifle less in the head of a woman. Then the distance from the point of the chin to the lowest part of the nose (E to D), the height of the nose and of the ear (D to c), the vertical distance from the top of the nose to the lowest limit of the hair upon the forehead (C to B), will each equal five parts, and from A to B will equal three parts. Also if D, E be equally divided into three, the greatest prominence of the chin will be opposite the upper part of the lowest division, and the opening of the mouth will be on the line dividing the first from the second division. Then, if the length from C to D be divided into three parts as shown, the height of the wings of the nostrils will equal the lower division, and the position of the middle of the lower lid of the eye will be shown by the line between the two upper divisions.

The height of the head of an adult equals its length from front to back, and therefore in Fig. 9 the head has been drawn within a square. The front of the ear at X is half-way between the tip of the nose and the back of the head.

The greatest width of the head (exclusive of the ears) equals two-thirds of its height (see Fig. 10); if this width be divided into five equal parts, the distance across the wings of the nostrils and the widths of the openings of the eyes will each equal one division.

The method of setting out a head, shown in Figs. 9 and 10, is very useful for large work, but it is more convenient to set out small drawings, by the method shown in Fig. 11, as follows: Bisect the height of the head to find the position of a line that will pass through the inner corner of the eye (A); take a point a little above A or the upper limit of the nose (B); the length of the nose may then be found by equally dividing the distance between B and c, and the position of the other parts of the head may be obtained by applying the information given in connection with Figs. 9 and 10.

Fig. 12 shows that the height of an adult when standing erect equals the distance between the finger-tips when the arms are extended horizontally ; and also that the limbs move in circles which have their centres at the joints. From Fig. 13 it will be seen that in a sitting figure the distance from the top of the head to the seat equals four heads. This diagram has been left at the blocking out stage to show how a drawing of a figure should be commenced.

When studying this set of proportions we must remember they are average measurements, and therefore it will be possible to find both in antique sculpture and in life models instances of slight dif ferences in proportion from those given here. But it is these slight variations from the average which give individual character to a figure, and therefore by using the given set of proportions as a test when drawing from the life or the antique, we shall be enabled to at once perceive the peculiarities of the figure we are representing. When drawing figures without the aid of a model, a set of proportions is the greatest safeguard against gross errors that it is possible to have.

Fig. 5-Fig. 6-Fig. 7-Fig. 8-Fig. 12-Fig. 13

DEFINITIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN FIGURE

Many ordinary words when used in anatomical descriptions have a restricted technical sense, and therefore it becomes necessary to define their meaning when thus used.

The normal attitude is the position assumed by a person when standing erect, with the feet together, the arms extended and close to the body, and the palms of the hands turned forwards. Unless it is stated to be otherwise, the figure is always supposed to be in the normal attitude when it is being described for anatomical purposes.

The mesial plane is an imaginary plane by which the figure is supposed to be divided into two lateral halves : the middle line is the line in which this plane meets the surface of the figure.

Internal and external denote distance from the mesial plane; that which is nearer the plane being said to be internal to that which is farther from it.

Superficial and deep indicate position with regard to the surface of the figure; thus, a muscle which is near that surface is described as superficial to a muscle which underlies it.

In anatomical descriptions the upper limb is generally called the upper extremity, the part of it which extends from the shoulder to the elbow being known as the arm, and the part between the elbow and the hand as the forearm.

The lower limb is frequently referred to as the lower extremity, the portion which extends from the body to the knee being called the thigh, and the part between the knee and the ankle the leg.

The sole of the foot is generally called the plantar surface. The dorsum of the foot is the surface which is uppermost when the sole of the foot is on the ground.

The above are the principal terms used in anatomical descriptions of the human figure, but there are a few others which will be defined as we proceed.

THE HUMAN SKELETON: ITS ELEMENTS, ITS JOINTS, ITS FITNESS FOR THE ERECT ATTITUDE

Zoologists place man in that great division of the animal kingdom called vertebrata, the chief characteristic of which is that all the animals contained in it have an internal skeleton or bony framework by which the external soft parts are supported. The combined hardness and elasticity which so wonderfully adapts bone for the construction of the skeleton is due to its chemical composition∙ It consists of about sixty-six parts of earthy matter (chiefly phosphate and carbonate of lime) and thirty-four parts of an animal substance called ossein (which may be converted into glue by boiling). The existence of these substances in bone can be easily demonstrated, for if a bone be carefully burnt the animal matter will be destroyed and the fragile residue will retain the shape of the bone; but if a bone be steeped in diluted muriatic acid the earthy portion will be dissolved, and the ossein, still retaining the form of the bone, will remain, and it is so elastic that it may be bent in any manner, and it will recover its original shape if allowed to do so.

Bones are composed of an outer hard layer called the compact tissue and an inner portion named the cancellous tissue, and within some bones there is a space (known as the medullary cavity) which is filled with marrow. Bones are nourished by bloodvessels, etc., which ramify through numerous small channels in their substance.

In some parts the bony framework of the skeleton is completed by the addition of an elastic substance technically called cartilage, but generally known as gristle.

The various parts of the skeleton are connected by joints, of which there are five different varieties.

1. Sutures, which are immovable joints formed somewhat like the dovetailed joints used in woodwork; they are found in the head only.

2. Planimetric or gliding joints, in which slight movements are produced by the parts gliding upon each other, as in the vertebrae and in the arch of the foot.

3. Hinge joints, which allow of motion to and fro but not of lateral movement, as at the elbow, and at the second and third joints of the fingers.

4. Ball-and-socket joints, which permit of circumduction—i.e., the slight movement of one end of a bone in its socket while the other extremity is made to describe a circle—as at joint of the hip and of the shoulder.

5. Pivotal joints, in which the bone rotates as upon a pivot; this is a movement peculiar to the radius, and it will