est and quickest lines possible to
themselves. When the hand is free, the easiest line for it to draw is
one inclining from the left upward to the right, or _vice versa_, from
the right downwards to the left; and when done very quickly, the line is
hooked a little at the end by the effort at return to the next. Hence,
you will always find the pencil, chalk, or pen sketch of a _very_ great
master full of these kind of lines; and even if he draws carefully, you
will find him using simple straight lines from left to right, when an
inferior master will have used curved ones. Fig. 11. is a fair facsimile
of part of a sketch of Raphael's, which exhibits these characters very
distinctly. Even the careful drawings of Leonardo da Vinci are shaded
most commonly with straight lines; and you may always assume it as a
point increasing the probability of a drawing being by a great master if
you find rounded surfaces, such as those of cheeks or lips, shaded with
straight lines.

[Illustration: FIG. 11.]

But you will also now understand how easy it must be for dishonest
dealers to forge or imitate scrawled sketches like Figure 11., and pass
them for the work of great masters; and how the power of determining the
genuineness of a drawing depends entirely on your knowing the _facts_ of
the object drawn, and perceiving whether the hasty handling is _all_
conducive to the expression of those truths. In a great man's work, at
its fastest, no line is thrown away, and it is not by the rapidity, but
the _economy_ of the execution that you know him to be great. Now to
judge of this economy, you must know exactly what he meant to do,
otherwise you cannot of course discern how far he has done it; that is,
you must know the beauty and nature of the thing he was drawing. All
judgment of art thus finally founds itself on knowledge of Nature.

But farther observe, that this scrawled, or economic, or impetuous
execution is never _affectedly_ impetuous. If a great man is not in a
hurry, he never pretends to be; if he has no eagerness in his heart, he
puts none into his hand; if he thinks his effect would be better got
with _two_ lines, he never, to show his dexterity, tries to do it with
one. Be assured, therefore (and this is a matter of great importance),
that you will never produce a great drawing by imitating the _execution_
of a great master. Acquire his knowledge and share his feelings, and the
easy execution will fall from your hand as it did