Faldoni, parts 2620 - 2623

 2620. The charming glossy photograph you did your painted portrait from will never be subjected to the same rejection. The photograph, no matter how bad or inadequate it might be, is accepted at face value as a fait accompli. 

 2621. Because when it comes to drawing a face, if the proportions are off even just a tiny amount, even just 1.5 percent, the effect is most disturbing. Just the slightest alterations of proportions cause a beautiful and harmonious face to look misshapen and even upsetting.

 2622. The average person’s sensitivity to the subtleties of the proportions of a face are so refined, that a change of mood or feeling is instantly noticed, even if that change of mood could never be measured with any sorts of optical equipment.

Giovanni Francesco Caroto, Italian ca. 1500

2623. The face creates a serious problem for an artist trying to capture its proportions and details. Perhaps the eyes come out looking wrong, and give a feeling of anger or desperation to the countenance. The artist wants to make a correction and so assumes that if the eyes are just scrubbed out and redrawn at a slightly different angle, all will be fixed. But it never works out that way.