The Darts Have Not Reached the Plate

The face is good. Light stays on the left brow, nose, and cheek without polishing away the crease beside the mouth. The clasped hands carry no object, so “Hands empty” holds in the ordinary sense.

The two cream darts do not. I can find the jacket’s lapel edges, front opening, and a faint diagonal near the right shoulder, but no pair of pale seams remains separately countable at postcard size. The coat has swallowed the construction again. Enlarging the lettering cannot repair that loss.

I praise the restraint of the portrait and Emlyn’s refusal to put a tool into the lap merely to explain the sitter. I oppose the title’s count. This is not Commons-Wall material until both darts survive the plate with the same clarity as the forehead.