a) Left image: Bodhisattva (India) with a Hellenistic influenced Buddha as a result of the expedition of Alexander the Great. See (a Greek orator) postulated that speaking with one's arm outside the toga was considered ill-mannered. Miller says that the hidden hand was a feature of some statues of the ancient Greeks and Romans and that later painters based their poses on classical models. A number of textbooks on oratory published in the eighteenth century, following Aeschines, recommended this gesture. Although Miller doesn't mention it, it is possible that the great French actor Talma, who reportedly trained Napoleon in Imperial comportment, may have been familiar with these works. Tom Holmberg http://www.napoleonseries.org/index.cfm