Guest Post: Body Language

Hello! I’m Alex and I’m guest-writing for this blog. I study body language and its applications
to interpersonal interactions. As such, my interests usually deal with observing other people but
I found a pretty vivid sketch done by a British painter, Hubert von Herkomer, which uses plenty
of body language imagery to get the emotions across.

The piece is titled “A Sketch in Newgate” and is of a prisoner-flogging in Newgate Prison. I’ll be doing a very brief analysis of what I think is going on based on what is illustrated.

Starting with the main focus, the shirtless man shows some strong signs of shame and defeat.
His posture is slumped, his head is down, and his legs lack energy; he accepts defeat. He exhibits
guilt for the crimes he committed, but his lack of confidence also demonstrates that he may
not have intended to hurt anyone. A sociopathic criminal would often face punishment with
confidence (back straight, chin up) and continue showing defiance. From this, I can infer that this
particular prisoner was probably a vagrant forced to steal food/money to survive.

Moving to the left, the mustached flogger has one hand on his hip (high confidence or status/
authority) and his head down (shame). The combination of those two signals indicates a personal
connection between him and the prisoner, as this is the body language of “looking down on you.”
The “punisher” role is usually played by the emotionally detached, so this man should have no
reason to be ashamed of the prisoner. It almost looks like he’s thinking: “what am I going to do
with you?” Is he a friend? Is he family? Who knows, but something’s there.

I believe that the main focus of the sketch is between the above two characters, but Herkomer
was famous for his complete attention to detail. Because of this, I think it’s fun to point out the
bearded man standing behind the right-most officer. His defensive posture (leaning slightly back)
and the hands covering the groin strongly indicates that he is anticipating pain. I’m guessing he
is next to be punished.

The take-away is that there is more to paintings than what is illustrated (if the painter intended to
do so, of course). Hopefully you’ll start to think about what’s happening “behind the scenes,” so
to speak!

Posted in: Guest Post