Portraitists focus on surface details while subjects practice concealment.

Evidence

Holbein is not the kind of painter who goes fishing for a man’s soul. His eye is meticulous, his technique formidable, and his concentration fixes on the telling details of the surface his subject chooses to show the world. A painter knows the art of concealment, and why one might choose to practice it. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 1158

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Character is sketched through specific physical details and social pressures — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 81; Portraits can pierce historical misrepresentation and reveal flawed human nature. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 1149; Physical details in portraits reveal a whole eloquent human biography. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 1151