548. Applications

Applications. This chart of noses is important to every retoucher. In fact, few retouchers realize the value of knowing how to properly represent or retain in the negative the character of the individual. We do not advocate that you alter the character of the individual in the negative, but there are cases when a faculty will so greatly build up a feature that even when lighted properly it will be exaggerated. You should know how to reduce this exaggeration and be able to model the nose so as to give the feature the best possible shape, thereby representing the better characteristics of the individual.

549. As is the head, so is the temperament, and as is the temperament so is the nose. Noses mean something. They have direct causes. These are the faculties. They may be much mixed, but in such cases the faculties and temperaments of the individual will be correspondingly mixed. There are many marked cases which strongly illustrate this principle. Some of the noted men, in whose noses the motive temperament is very strongly illustrated, are Generals Sheridan, Sherman, Logan, Miles, Napoleon, Moltke, Napier, Admiral Dewey, also Lincoln and Grant. Lord Salisbury, Robert Ingersoll, Senator Mason and Dwight L. Moody have the vital portions of the nose most strongly

Illustration No. 39. Character Chart - General Shape of Head, Mouth, Lips and Chin.

See Paragraph 552.

developed. A distinct prominence of the mental part is shown in the noses of Herbert Spencer, Robert Louis Stevenson and Eugene Field. The three faculties are very equally developed in the noses of George Washington and Henry Ward Beecher.

550. A thick nose, particularly just above the wings, with a tendency to turn down at the tip, is one of the strongest signs of selfishness. The outline of such a nose is shown in Figure 12, of Illustration No. 38, but a front view will very clearly illustrate and show that characteristic of the individual.

551. When retouching profiles it will not only be an interesting study to compare them with the chart of noses, but it will also be a valuable training to you in observation and in enabling you to reproduce the very best character in the individual. Always use as your guide the outline shown in Figure 20, which is a properly balanced nose. If, for example, your subject had an antagonistic nose, as shown in Figure 2, you could very slightly add to the tip of the nose with the pencil, and then slightly reduce the extreme point of the curve on the ridge. Should the other extreme, that of deceitfulness, be strongly developed, as in Figure 18, you should apply the etcher to the tip of the nose and shorten the mental portion. A very little addition made to the motive section of the nose would do no great harm. Bear in mind, however, that we do not advocate extremes in these alterations, for you must not vitally change the appearance, in the negative, of the character of the individual. However, when undesirable faculties are very pronounced, it is advisable to reduce them. It is far better to have the exaggeration tend toward the ideal, thus giving credit to the individual, rather than to leave the undesirable qualities emphasized.