Artists and their difficulties with gaits

Even the most accomplished artists sometimes have difficulty in accurately portraying human anatomy. Paul Cezzane, for instance, had trouble with hands (examples [1] [2] [3] ). Another persistently tricky area is highlighted (or, if you prefer, highlit) by Professor Julian Meltzoff of La Jolla, California,in a recent article for Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. see: ‘Errors in the Making and Perception of Art Images of Human Gait: Psychological Explanations.’ He points out that:

“Paintings, drawings, and sculptures from ancient art to the present reveal a curious error in the portrayal of human gait. In natural human gait the arm and leg on 1 side of the body swing in opposite directions to each other—contralaterally. The error is to depict the arm and leg on the same side of the body as if swinging in the same direction— homolaterally.“

The professor draws particular attention to (presumably unintentional) portrayals of gait errors in ‘how to draw’ publications, which he says, “ […] has been largely unnoticed by art historians and nonexpert viewers”

For example (pictured) Des Circkels und Richtscheyts auch der Perspectiva und Proportion der Menschen und Rosse kurze doch gründtliche underweisung des rechten gebrauchs: (by Heinrich Lautensack, 1618)