Dürer. He was in a state of wrath at his accusers.
Vel. We see no dimple in his chin.
Dürer. It is hidden in his beard. You also don’t see his chin nor the double-chin!
Gryn. You have saved yourself the trouble of drawing those for the sake of painting a big beard.
Vel. The straight and muscular neck pleases me, as also the throat.
Dürer. Thank the Lord that you approve of something!
Vel. But so that I should not leave something to be desired in this, I must also say the figure has not sufficient hollow in the throat. When a physiognomist noted this in Socrates, he pronounced it as a sign of slowness of mind. I should wish those shoulders to be a little more erect, and larger.
Dürer. He was not so much a fighting soldier as a general. Have you not heard of his apophthegm on the point? When certain soldiers were saying of him, that he was not so valiant a soldier as he was a wise general, he answered: “My mother bore me to be a general, not a soldier.” But, depart, if you are not going to be buyers, for I see some tax-farmers approaching.
Vel. Let us go for a walk, and let us talk on the way to one another, concerning the human body without considering Scipio, and this portrait. A flat nose does not befit a noble countenance.
Gryn. What do you think of the noses of the Huns, then?