It's nice to be able to exploit the strong diagnols and sharp lines of a Man's face in a painting. This particular 3 hour study from life shows just that.

The jaw, nose, forehead, eyebrows, cheek, and neck are all very angular hardly any curves at all.

Compare that to the study below of his wife who posed for us the week before he did, all the features are round and curvy, just how we like our women.

This angular V.S. round is a long used tool the artist has used to help establish gender in painting, or sculpture for that matter.

These two older

paintings really show this. Both of these paintings are of the same model, one by me, the other by a friend at class. Notice how the gender is ambiguous on the painting with the strong angles, the other, curvier painting, is definitely a female. This, I believe, creates more tension in the angular painting and therefore it is the stronger painting. Although more subtle, similar devices were used in the Mona Lisa, creating a more dynamic painting.