Understanding Affect with Drawings of Le Brun

In my recent interview with Eva Legêne, we mentioned the drawings of Charles Le Brun illustrating the "passions of the soul".
This is a great way to understand the concept of affect in music, baroque or otherwise. When we play music according to an affect or emotion, every interpretive decision will be based on delivering just that, whether in terms of articulation, dynamics, sound color etc. And this is just like in drawing or painting, every stroke of the brush/pen/pencil will be in service of showing that particular expression. Notice the shadows, the lines of the face muscles, the eyes....nothing is just random!

For those interested in seeing more of those highly expressive drawings, you can view them HERE.
(leads to the scan of Le Brun's book "Méthode pour apprendre à dessiner les passions", hosted by the Digital Library of Munich, MDZ. Follow link to view or download).