As to theCOMBINATIONSof beauty, it must now be observed, that some one of these species of beauty always characterize the same individual during every stage of life; and, to the experienced observer, it never is difficult to say which of them predominates. Attention to the preceding principles will render this easy.
It is right to mention here the cause of this general predominance of one species of beauty over the rest. It depends on this, that the slightest original or accidental preponderance of strength in one system above that of the rest, though unobserved at first, leads to a more frequent employment of its functions, and therefore to a more perfect development of its organs, until at last the disproportion between these and those of the other systems, becomes characteristic of the individual.
In a truly beautiful woman, none of the systems described can exist in a great degree of degradation; but of the three, the nutritive or vital system is to woman the most essential. In England, from thirty to forty is generally the age of its highest perfection.
It often, however, occurs, that two, or even the whole of these species of beauty, are blended in considerable perfection. In those females in which it is found, the locomotive system is well developed in the length and elegance of the limbs; the vital or nutritive system everywhere presents soft forms, and rounds both body and limbs; and the mental or thinking system displays a capability of grace in action, notwithstanding the constrained attitude assumed to conceal the face.
Although there can indeed be no great degree of beauty in which this combination is not more or less the case, yet a union of all the three species of beauty, in the greatest compatible degree, is to be found only in some of those immortal images of ideal beauty, which were created by the genius and the chisel of the Greeks.
Having briefly spoken of these combinations, I may notice also thosecombinations which similarly occur among the temperaments, which, as already said, constitute partial views of the varieties I have been describing.
In relation to a combination of thephlegmaticandnervoustemperament, I may refer to Richerand, who says, that, “among the moderns, the easy Michael Montaigne, all of whose passions were so moderate, who reasoned on everything, even on feeling, was truly pituitous. But in him the predominance of the lymphatic system was not carried so far, but that he joined to it a good deal of nervous susceptibility.”
Of women, more especially, it is observed, thatthey rarely present examples of the lymphatic temperament, unmodified by nervous mobility; whence come extreme vivacity in the sensations with great feebleness, determinations equally precipitate and unsteady, excited imagination and ephemeral tastes, absolute will, &c.
Thesanguinetemperament is similarly combined with thenervousone. Hence, the physiologist above quoted says, that “to the extreme love of pleasure, sanguine men join, when circumstances require it [he should have said, in some cases], great elevation of thought and character, and can bring into action the highest talents in every department: the history of Henry IV., of Mirabeau, and others, proves that.”
The ancients gave the name ofbilious, to a temperament in which the sanguineous system is energetic, the pulse strong, hard, and frequent, the subcutaneous veins prominent, the development of the liver excessive, the superabundance of bile remarkable, the sensibility easily excited, yet capable of dwelling upon one object, the passions violent, the movements abrupt and impetuous, and the character inflexible. This is evidently a very compound temperament, and should never have been classed, any more than the two preceding, with the simple temperaments, the athletic or muscular, the phlegmatic or lymphatic, the sanguine, and the nervous, which I have noticed under the heads to which they belong.
In persons of this temperament, the skin is of a yellowish brown, the hair black, the musclesmarked, the form harshly expressed. “Bold in the conception of a project,” says Richerand, “constant and indefatigable in its execution, it is among men of this temperament, that we find those who, in different ages, have governed the destinies of the world: full of courage, boldness, and activity, they have signalized themselves by great virtues or great crimes, and have been the terror or admiration of the universe. Such were Alexander, Julius Cesar, Brutus, Mahomet, Charles XII., the Czar Peter, Cromwell, Sixtus V., Cardinal Richelieu [and, he should have added, Bonaparte].... To attain to results of such importance, the profoundest dissimulation and the most obstinate constancy are equally necessary; and these are the most eminent qualities of the bilious.”
A still more compound temperament is themelancholic, in which disease is added to the bilious temperament, a derangement of the functions of the nervous system, and the diseased obstruction of some one of the organs of the abdomen, so that the nutritive functions are feebly or irregularly performed, the bowels sluggish, the pulse hard and contracted, the excretions difficult, the imagination gloomy, the disposition suspicious.
In persons of this temperament, the skin is of a still deeper hue, and the look uneasy and gloomy. Rousseau and Tiberius are excellent examples of this temperament, as associated with genius and virtue in one, and with truly royal vice in the other. In women, this temperament is rarely so intense as in men.
Of theTRANSITIONSof beauty, I have now to observe, that, though one species of beauty always characterizes the same individual during every stage of life, yet it is remarkable, that the young woman (whatever species of beauty predominates) has always a tendency to beauty of the locomotive system;—that the middle-aged woman has always a tendency to beauty of the nutritive system;—and that the woman of advanced age has always a tendency to beauty of the thinking system.
Some women would seem, in the progress of life, to pass through all these systems (and the more perfect the whole organization, the more will this seem to be the case); but the accurate observer will always see the predominance of the same system.
Winckelmann says: “I cannot imagine beauty without thePROPORTIONwhich is always its foundation.—The drawing of the naked figure is founded upon the idea and the knowledge of beauty; and this idea consists partly in measures and relations, and partly in forms, the beauty of which was, as Cicero observes, the object of the first Grecian artists: the latter determine the figure; the former fix the proportions.”
The great variety of proportions presented by the human body causes much difficulty in determining with precision what are the best. The difficulty becomes quite insurmountable if we attempt to assign precise dimensions to the details of configuration or to minute parts.
Many circumstances are opposed to the exactness of these measures. Even in the same person, one part is rarely in all respects similar to the corresponding part; we are taller in the morning than in the evening; and the proportions change at different periods of life. In different individuals, the differences are still more evident. Moreover, habits, professions, trades, all unite to oppose regularity in the proportions.
It has farther been observed that, in the conformation of woman, both as regards the whole and as regards the various parts, nature still more rarely approaches determinate proportions than in man.
It is remarked by Hogarth, whose views I now abridge, that in society we every day hear women pronounce perfectly correct opinions as to the proportions of the neck, the bosom, the hands, and the arms of other women, whom they have an interest in observing with severity. It is evident that, for such an examination, they ought to be capable of seizing, with great precision, the relation of length and thickness, and of following the slight sinuosities, the swellings, the depressions, almost insensible and continually varying, at the surface of the parts observed. If so, it is certainly in the power of a man of science, with as observing an eye, to go still farther, and conceive many other necessary circumstances concerning proportion.
But he says: “Though much of this matter may be easily understood by common observation, assisted by science, still I fear it will be difficult to raise a very clear idea of what constitutes or composes the utmost beauty of proportion.... We shall soon find that it is chiefly to be effected by means of the nice sensation we naturally have of what certain quantities or dimensions of parts are fittest to produce the utmost strength for moving or supporting great weights, and of what are most fit for the utmost light agility, as also for every degree, between these two extremes.”
After some illustrations of this, which naturally leave the method very vague, he adds: “I am apprehensive that this part of my scheme, for explaining exact proportion, may not be thought so sufficiently determinate as could be wished.” So that Hogarth’s method as to proportions, both general and particular, reduces itself to the employment of the eye and the nice sensation we have of quantities or dimensions.
But the Greek artists had not only done what Hogarth thus vaguely speaks of, but advanced much farther; and indeed all that has been done on this important subject belongs rather to the history of art than that of nature.
“It is not,” says Buffon, “by the comparison of the body of one man with that of another man, or by measures actually taken in a great number of subjects, that we can acquire this knowledge [that of proportion]: it is by the efforts which have been made exactly to copy and imitate nature; it is to the art of design that we owe all that we know in this respect. Feeling and taste have done all that mechanics could not do; the rule and the compass have been quitted in order to profit by the eye; all the forms, all the outlines, and all the parts of the human body, have been realized in marble; and we have known nature better by the representation than by nature itself. It is by great exercise of the art of design and by an exquisite sentiment, that great statuaries have succeeded in making us feel the just proportions of the works of nature. The Greeks have formed such admirable statues,that with one consent they are regarded as the most exact representation of the most perfect human body. These statues, which were only copies from man, are become originals, because these copies were not made from any individual, but from the whole human species well observed, so well indeed, that no man has been found whose figure is so well proportioned as these statues: it is then from these models that the measures of the human body have been taken.”
It is now necessary to lay before the reader the principles of the Greeks, as to the proportions of the human body. Much has been well done on this subject by Winckelmann, Bossi, and others; but, at the same time, from want of enlarged anatomical and physiological views, they have overlooked some fundamental considerations, and have failed to unravel the greatest difficulties which the subject presents. That the reader may be satisfied of the accuracy of my representations, I shall lay the statements of these writers before him in their own words, rendering them only as succinct as possible.[44]
Of the first epoch of art among the Etruscans and Greeks, Mengs says: “They preferred the most necessary things to those which were less so; and therefore they directed their attention first to the muscles, and next toproportion, theseconstituting the two parts the most useful and necessary of the human form; and this is, throughout, the character of their primitive taste. All this we observe in history, and in the divine and human figures which they have represented.
“In these figures,” he farther observes, “we find a proportion, impossible to be known and practised, without an art which furnishes surerules. These rules could not be founded otherwise than in proportion, which was invented and practised by the Greeks.”
In this, Flaxman agrees, when he says: “It must not be supposed that those simple geometrical forms of body and limbs, in the divinities and heroes of antiquity, depended upon accidental choice, or blind and ignorant arbitration. They are, on the contrary, a consequence of the strict and extensive examination of nature, of rational inquiry into its most perfect organization and physical well-being, expressed in outward appearance.”
“That the Greeks,” says Bossi, “wrote much on this subject [their doctrine respecting symmetry] we have ample evidence in Pliny, Vitruvius himself, Philostratus the younger, and others.
“Polycletus did not confine himself to giving a commentary upon this fundamental point, but, in illustration of his treatise, according to Galen, made an admirable statue that confirmed the precepts laid down in the work; and ‘The Rule of Polycletus,’ the name given to this statue, became so famous for its beauty, that it passed into a proverbto express a perfect body, as we may find in Lucian.
“But of so many writings, which ought at least to equal the works that remain to us, and probably were superior, inasmuch as it is easier to lay down precepts than to put them in execution—of so many treatises, I say, not a fragment remains [except the few lines of Vitruvius], nor is there, now, any hope that a vestige will be found, unless something may remain for posterity among the papyri of Herculaneum.”
Now, to approach to the ancients in excellence is quite impossible, until some one shall explain the great principles on which they acted. Assuredly they are, in some of the most important respects, unknown at present. Servile imitation will never answer the purpose; and to learn as the ancients did, and reach perfection, perhaps, in as many ages, is not very rational, when we can avail ourselves of their practice to discover their principles. I will, in this chapter, endeavor to point out some of these principles in the practice of art, as I have already done in the general theory of beauty.
“It is probable,” says Winckelmann, “that the Grecian artists, in imitation of the Egyptians, had fixed, by well-determined rules, not only the largest, but even the very smallest proportions, and the measure of the length proper to every age and to every kind of contour; and probably all these rules were learned by young persons, from books that treated of symmetry.”
These rules, we know, were of threekinds—numerical, geometrical, and harmonic; and we shall see, in the sequel, that the loss of them has been much deplored. It is not a little curious, however, that the numerical and geometrical methods are, in some measure, actually practised even at the present day, and that the harmonic method (the loss of which has caused the greatest confusion) is easily deducible from anatomical and physiological principles, as I shall endeavor to show.
As to theNUMERICAL METHOD, it is evidently that of which Vitruvius has preserved some notions, and which is at present practised by artists.
“As it is the painter’s business,” says Bossi, “to imitate a great variety of human bodies, and as the difference of parts in beautiful bodies is generally slight, and becomes, as it were, imperceptible, in the most usual imitations less than life, Leonardo perceived it was necessary for the artist to use a general measure, for the purpose of preparing historical compositions quickly. He required that the figure to be employed should be carefully selected on the model of some natural body, the proportions of which were generally considered beautiful.—This measure, he required, should be employed solely forlength, and not for width, which requires more evident variety.”
“It has been observed,” says Flaxman, “that Vitruvius, from the writings of the most eminent Greek painters and sculptors, informs us that they made their figures eight heads high, or ten faces, and he instances different parts of the figure measured according to that rule, which the greatMichael Angelo adopted, as we see by a print from a drawing of his.”
Winckelmann, however, shows that the foot served the Greeks as a measure for all their larger dimensions, and that their sculptors regulated their proportions by it, in giving six times its length, as the model of the human figure. Vitruvius says, “Pes vero altitudinis corporis sextæ.”
“The foot,” says Winckelmann, “which among the ancients was used as the standard of measures of every magnitude (for a given measure of fluids was also called by this name), was very useful to sculptors in fixing the proportions of the body, and with reason; for the foot was a more determinate measure than that of the head or face, of which the moderns generally make use. The ancient artists regulated the size of their statues by the length of the foot, making them, according to Vitruvius, six times the length of the foot. Upon this principle, Pythagoras determined the height of Hercules, by the length of the feet with which he measured the Olympic stadium at Elis.
“This proportion of six to one between the foot and the body, is founded upon experience of nature, even in slender figures: it is found correct, not only in the Egyptian statues, but also in the Grecian; and it will be discovered in the greater part of the ancient figures where the feet are preserved.”
“We would not omit mentioning,” says Bossi, “the erroneous opinion of those, who esteem the feet of females beautiful in proportion to their smallness. The beauty of the feet consists in thehandsomeness and neatness of their shape, not in their being short, or extremely small: were it otherwise, the feet of the Chinese and Japanese women would be beautiful, and those of the Venus de Medici frightful.”
Such, then, is evidently the numerical method of the ancients.—Of theGEOMETRICAL METHOD, we have many illustrations.
A man standing upright, with his arms extended, is, as Leonardo da Vinci has shown, enclosed in a square, the extreme extent of his arms being equal to his height. This is evidently the most general measure of the latter kind.
Of the latter kind, also, is Camper’s ellipsis for measuring the relative size of the shoulders in the male, and the pelvis in the female.
So also is the measure from the centre of one mammæ to that of the other, as equal to the distance from each to the pit over the breast-bone.
We now approach the chief difficulty, which evidently formed a stumbling-block even to Leonardo da Vinci—thatHARMONIC METHODwhich, strange as it may appear, will be found to afford rules that are at once perfectlyprecise, and yet infinitelyvariable. The apparent impossibility indeed of such a rule seems to have embarrassed every one. And the statement which Bossi makes in regard to Leonardo da Vinci, in this respect, is exceedingly interesting.
“He thought,” says Bossi, “but little of any general measure of the species; and thatthe true proportionadmitted by him, and acknowledged tobe of difficult investigation, is solelythe proportion of an individual in regard to himself, which, according to true imitation, should bedifferent in all the individuals of a species, as is the case in nature. Thus, says he, ‘all the parts of any animal should correspond with the whole; that which is short and thick, should have every member short and thick; that which is long and thin, every member long and thin; and that which is between the two, members of a proportionate size.’ From this and other precepts, it follows, that, when he speaks of proportion, he is to be understood as referring to theharmony of the parts of an individual, and not to the general rule of imitation in reference to dimensions.”—How clearly (notwithstanding the error as toallbeing short and thick) does this point to the harmonic method of proportion forthwith to be explained?
“It would seem he felt within himself that he did not reach the perfection of those wonderful ancients of whom he professed himself the admirer and disciple.
“It became, therefore, Leonardo’s particular care and study to approach as nearly as he could to the ancients in the true imitation of beautiful nature under the guidance of philosophy.
“But whether from want of great examples, or from not sufficiently penetrating, as he himself thought, into these artifices, or from comprehending them too late, he modestly laments that he did not possess the ancient art of proportions. He then protests that he has done the little he was ableto do, and asks pardon of posterity that he has not done more. Such are the sentiments that Platino exhibits in the following epitaph:
“Leonardus Vincia (sic) FlorentinusStatuarius Pictor que nobilissimusde se parce loquitur.“Non sum Lysippus; nec Apelles; nec Policletus,Nec Zeuxis; nec sum nobilis ære Myron.Sum Florentinus Leonardus Vincia proles;Mirator veterum discipulusque memor.Defuit una mihi symmetria prisca: peregiQuod potui: veniam da mihi posteritas.”
“It is evident that these sentiments are not to be attributed to the imagination of the poet.”
Bossi, having no glimpse of the great principles for which Leonardo sought in vain, says: “Since, then, this great man could not satisfy himself in the difficult task of dimensions, while on other points he seems to dread no censure, it should give us a strong idea of the difficulty of determining the laws of beautiful symmetry, and preserving it in works withthat harmony which is felt, but cannot be explained, and which varies in every figure, according to the age, circumstances, and particular character of each.
“And when we recollect that, though Leonardo sought successfully in Vitruvius the proportions which Vitruvius himself seems to have drawn from the Greeks, he yet lamented that he did not possess the ancient symmetry, it is easily seen that he did not mean by this science, as already stated, a determinate general measure for man, butthatharmony of parts which is suited to each individual, according to the respective circumstances of sex, age, character, and the like.” Again, how clearly does this point to the harmonic method of proportion to be presently explained!
“But,” Bossi proceeds, “how difficult it is to combine the beautiful and elegant, with easy and harmonic measures, may be judged from the vain attempts of many otherwise ingenious men, as I will here relate for the benefit of artists. The difficulty will be still more evident if we reflect how arduous a task it is to make the proportions that the Greeks denominated numerical, harmonic, and geometrical, agree together, and to apply them thus agreeing, to the formation of rules and measures of a visible object so various in its component parts as the human body.”—In despair, Bossi tries to show its absolute impossibility!
“In the second place, to penetrate completely the natural reason of the proportions of the human body, would require a knowledge of physics, which it is not in man’s power to obtain. The universal equilibrium of the numerous constituent parts of the human machine, every one of which eminently attains the end for which it was destined, without interrupting the course that every other part takes to its respective end, in which true proportion seems to consist, is more easily stated than understood. And even if an artist could arrive at such a knowledge of man as to be able, so to speak, to compose him, he would have done but little, because he would have made but one man. By thealteration of only one of the infinite parts that compose the human frame, the equilibrium and respective relation of the others are necessarily altered: in short, each separate individual would be the subject of a totally new study.
“Every human habit, of whatever nature it may be, has an influence over the human figure, and from the indefinable variety and incalculable mixture of such habits, there results an infinite variety of figures. Thus, it is evident that true general proportions cannot be laid down without violating nature, which it is the object of art to imitate.”—If, by “general proportions,” Bossi here means proportions applicable to all or to a great number, he completely loses sight of the object of the great man on whose opinions he comments; for he soughta rule for the harmony of parts in each distinct individual!
Again, Bossi abandons, as impossible, the finding of the harmonic rule, which was the great object of Leonardo.—“From what has been said, we may finally conclude that large proportions only can be established, and that placing too much confidence in measures, retards, rather than favors the arts.
“It was written of Raphael, and is seen, that he had as many proportions as he made figures. Michael Angelo did the same, and it was his saying, that he who had not the compasses in his eye, would never be able to supply the deficiency by artificial means. Vincentio Danti, who treasured the doctrine of Michael Angelo, asserts in hiswork, that the proportions do not fall under any measure of quantity. We have seen the infinite exceptions of Leonardo, respecting the measurement of man, and his own few works confirm it. I speak no more of inferior persons among the moderns; but turning to the ancients, I find that the proportions of every good statue are different.”—And this will be found conformable to the harmonic rule.
“And speaking generally of works in relievo, what canons can determine the largeness or smallness of some parts, so as to obtain a greater effect according to the circumstances of light, distance, material, visual point, &c.? Certainly none.”—This was not to be expected from the rule sought for.
“I shall deem that I have gained some recompense for the toil of wading through so many tedious works, if it shall induce any faith in the advice I now give, namely, that ‘every student of painting should himself measure many bodies of acknowledged beauty, compare them with the finest imitations in painting and sculpture, and from these measures make a canon for himself, dividing it in the manner best suited to his genius and memory. If this plan were more generally adopted, art and its productions would both be gainers.’”—It might do so, among as ingenious a people as the Greeks, in as many ages as the same method cost them to do it in! Leonardo da Vinci wanted to abridge the time, instead of beginning again!
Winckelmann as little understands this greatman’s object, when, after saying, “As the ancients made ideal beauty their principal study, they determined its relations and proportions,” he adds “from which, however, they allowed themselves to deviate, when they had a good reason, and yielded themselves to the guidance of their genius.” Why, the whole purpose of the rule sought for was to regulate every possible deviation, as will now be seen.
The harmonic method of the Greeks—that measure which Leonardo calls the “true proportion”—“the proportion of an individual in regard to himself”—“which should be different in all the individuals of a species,” but in which “all the parts of any animal should correspond with the whole,” which constitutes “the harmony of the parts of an individual,” and which, as Bossi adds, “varies in every figure, according to the age, circumstances, and particular character of each”—in short,this method for the harmony of parts in each distinct individual—this method presenting rules, perfectly precise, and yet infinitely variable, has, in all its elements, been clearly laid before the reader (though not enunciated as a rule)—in the relative proportions of the locomotive, nutritive, and thinking systems, or, generally speaking, of the limbs, trunk, and head, and in the three species of beauty which are founded on them.
These, it is evident, present to the philosophic observer, the sole means of judging of beauty by harmonic rule, the great object of Leonardo da Vinci’s desires and regrets. They present thegreat features of the Greek method—if that method conformed to truth and nature, as it undoubtedly did. This will be rendered still clearer by a single example.
Thus, if any individual be characterized by the development of the nutritive system, this harmonic rule of nature demands not only that, as in the Saxon-English, the Dutch, and many Germans, the trunk shall be large, but consequently, that the other two portions, the head and the limbs, shall be relatively small; that the calvarium shall be small and round, and the intellectual powers restricted; that the head shall, nevertheless, be broad, because the vital cavities of the head are large, and because large jaws and muscles of mastication are necessary for the supply of such a system; that the neck shall be short, because the locomotive system is little developed; that it shall be thick, because the vessels which connect the head to the trunk are large and full, the former being only an appendage of the latter; that the lower limbs shall be both short and slender; that the calves of the legs shall be small and high;[45]that the feet shall be little turned out, &c., &c.
So also, if any individual be characterized by the development of the locomotive system, the harmonic rule demands, not only that the limbs shall be large, but, consequently, that the othertwo portions, the head and the trunk, shall be relatively small; that the calvarium shall be small and long, and the intellectual powers limited; that the head shall be long, because the jaws and their muscles are extended, &c., &c.
So likewise, if any individual be characterized by the development of the thinking system, the harmonic rule demands, not only that the head shall be large, but, consequently, that the other two portions, the trunk and limbs, shall be relatively small; that the head shall not only be large, but that its upper part, the calvarium, shall be largest, giving a pyramidal appearance to the head; that the trunk and limbs, however elegantly formed, shall be relatively feeble, the former often liable to disease, the latter to accident, as we have seen in the most illustrious examples, &c., &c.
It must be borne in mind, however, as already explained, that there may be innumerable combinations and modifications of these characteristics; certain greater ones, nevertheless, generally predominating.
Such, doubtless, was the harmonic method of the Greeks; whether, by them, it was thus clearly founded on anthropology, or not.
It is curious that several writers, and Winckelmann among the rest, should have adopted a triple division of the body—without, however, duly founding it in anthropology. Thus Winckelmann says “the entire body is divided into three parts, and the principal members are also divided into three. The parts of the body are the trunk, thethighs, and the legs!”—a distribution and division founded neither in nature nor in truth.
That the Greeks were more or less aware of the principles here stated, though their writings have not descended to us, is proved by their idealizations founded upon them.
“If different proportions,” says Winckelmann, “are sometimes met with in any figure, as for example, in the beautiful trunk of a naked female figure in the possession of Signior Cavaceppi at Rome, in which the body from the navel to the sexual parts is of an uncommon length, it is most probable that such figures have been copied from nature, that is, from persons so formed.”—Nothing certainly would be better founded in natural tendency than such idealization.
All the three Greek methods of proportion being now before the reader, I must briefly notice other circumstances.
In the head in particular, may be observedCHARACTER, or a permanent and invariable form, which defines its capabilities, andEXPRESSION, or temporary and variable forms, which indicate its actual functions.
The teachers of anatomy for artists have not, that I know of, clearly described the causes of these. I may therefore observe, that as character is permanent and invariable, it dependsfundamentallyon permanent and invariable parts—the bones; and as expression is temporary and variable, it depends on shifting and variable parts—the muscles.
It is well observed by Mengs that, in relation tocharacter, “the peculiar distinction of the ancients is, that from one part of the face, we may know the character of the whole.” And, of expression, Winckelmann observes that “the portion which possesses beauty of expression or action, or beauty of both added to the figure of any person, is like the resemblance of one who views himself in a fountain; the reflection is not seen plainly unless the surface of the water be still, limpid, and clear; quiet and tranquillity are as suitable to beauty as to the sea. Expression and action being, in art as in nature, the evidence of the active or passive state of the mind, perfect beauty can never exist in the countenance unless the mind be calm and free from all agitation, at least from everything likely to change and disturb the lineaments of which beauty is composed.”
Now the details which, during the period of perfection in art, were so skilfully employed, were these very means of expression or circumstances attending and indicating them—minuter forms which are universal, and without which nature is imperfectly represented—minuter forms of the highest order, because the means of expressing intellect, emotion, and passion, if required.
These higher details we find, for instance, in the turn of the inner end of the eyebrow, or constriction and elevation of the under eyelid, or a hundred other traits dependant on subjacent muscles. We find them in slight risings of mere cutaneous parts, when they lie over and are elevated by the attachment of muscles, as at the inner angles of the eyes,the corners of the mouth, and elsewhere. We find them in depressions or furrows, when they are drawn down by contiguous muscles. These are of higher character, because they belong to expression or its means; and there is a corresponding want of completeness, of truth, of nature, without them.
Between these intellectual means, these higher details, and those of a lower order, accidental details, the great artists of Greece distinguished. Accidental details have nothing to do with expression or the means of expression; they depend upon an inferior system, that merely of life, and constitute all the depositions, excrescences, and growths, which confuse the vision of the inexperienced, and embarrass that of the most discriminating, in the examination of higher beauty.
These lower details we find, for instance, in the puffings of adipose substance which project from the spaces between the muscles of the face, and from other accidents of the vital system, as wrinkles or folds from the absence of adipose substance, fulness or emptiness of the vessels, projecting veins, peculiar conditions of the skin, turbidity of the eyes, hairs of the head, beard, or skin, &c. These have always characterized inferior artists and inferior periods of art.
From these observations, it will be seen that such unqualified statements as the following by Azara, lead only to misconception: “A human face, for example, is composed of the forehead, brows, eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth, chin, and beard. These are the great parts; but each of thesecontains many other minor parts, which also contain an infinity of others still less. If the painter will content himself to express well the great parts which I have taken notice of, he will have a grand style; if he depicts also the second, his style will be that of mediocrity; and if he pretends to introduce the last, his style will be insignificant and ridiculous.”
On this important doctrine of art, of which Winckelmann says: “The ideal is as much more noble than the mechanical as the mind is superior to the body,” I shall follow, so far as I can advantageously, the great writers on this subject, in order that the reader may have all the confidence in its recognised portions that authority can bestow, and that he may the better distinguish them from the new views which are here added.
“There are,” says Winckelmann, “two kinds of beauty, individual and ideal: the former is a combination of the beauties of an individual; the latter, a selection of beautiful parts from several.
“The formation of beauty was begun from some beautiful individual, that is, from the imitation of some beautiful person, as in the representation of some divinity. Even in the ages when the arts were flourishing, the goddesses were formed from the models of beautiful women, and even from those who publicly sold their charms: such was Theodota, of whom Xenophon speaks. Nor was any one scandalized at it, for the opinion of the ancients on these matters was very different from ours.”
Winckelmann adds: “There is rarely or never, a body without fault, all the parts of which are such that it is impossible to find or draw them more perfect in other persons. The wisest artists, being aware of this ... did not confine themselves to copying the forms of beauty from one individual ... but seeking what is beautiful from various objects, they endeavored to combine them together, as the celebrated Parrhasius says in his discourse with Socrates. Thus, in the formation of their figures, they were not guided by any personal affections, by which we are frequently led, in the pursuit of beauty that pleases us, to abandon true beauty.
“From the selection of the most beautiful parts and their harmonious union in one figure, arises ideal beauty: nor is this a metaphysical idea, because all the portions of the human figure taken separately are not ideal; but merely the entire figure.” And he elsewhere says: “It is called ideal, not as regards its parts, but as a whole, in which nature can be surpassed by art.”
With deeper observation still, he adds that, “though nature tends to perfection in the formation of individuals, yet she is so constantly thwarted by the numerous accidents to which humanity is subject, that she cannot attain the end proposed; so that it is in a manner impossible to find an individual in whom all parts of the body are perfectly beautiful.”
It was to the same purport that Proclus had in ancient times said: “He who takes for his model such forms as nature produces, and confineshimself to an exact imitation of them, will never attain to what is perfectly beautiful. For the works of nature are full of disproportion, and fall very short of the true standard of beauty. So that Phidias, when he formed his Jupiter, did not copy any object ever presented to his sight, but contemplated only that image which he had conceived in his mind from Homer’s description.”[46]
In short, while the Greek artists perpetually studied nature, they discovered her best and highest tendencies even in her most perfect forms; their works accordingly present nothing foreign to that which is strictly beautiful; they present not only no inferior forms, but no idle ornaments; and everything in them is accordingly at once simple and sublime.
Barry[47]affords me the means of continuing the view I now wish to present. “In all individuals,” he says, “of every species, there is necessarily a visible tendency to a certain point or form. In this point or form, the standard of each speciesrests. The deviations from this, either by excess or deficiency, are of two kinds: first, deviations indicating a more peculiar adaptation of certain characters of advantage and utility, such as strength, agility, and so forth; even mental as well as corporeal, since they sometimes result from habit and education, as well as from original conformation. In these deviations, are to be found those ingredients which, in their composition and union, exhibit the abstract or ideal perfection in the several classes or species of character. The second kind of deviation is that which, having no reference to anything useful or advantageous, but rather visibly indicating the contrary, as being useless, cumbersome, or deficient, is considered as deformity; and this deformity will be always found different in the several individuals, by either not being in the same part, in the same manner, or in the same degree. The points of agreement which indicate the species, are therefore many; of difference which indicate the deformity, few.”
Barry, however, wrongly says: “Mere beauty, then, though always interesting, is, notwithstanding, vague and indeterminate; as it indicates no particular expression either of body or mind.” But it indicates the highest character, the capability of all noble expression, and this is better than its sacrifice to actuality in one.
I am now led to the greater rules which their ideal method suggested to the Greeks. Payne Knight indeed says: “Precise rules and definitions, in matters of this sort, are merely the playthingsor tools of system-builders;” and, unchecked by any recollection of the practical and unrivalled excellence of the founders of these rules, he adds a great deal of narrow-minded and mistaken nonsense upon the subject, never distinguishing between rules in themselves rational, and the stretching of them to utter inapplicability. On this subject, even Reynolds properly observes, that “some of the greatest names of antiquity, and those who have most distinguished themselves in works of genius and imagination, were equally eminent for their critical skill. Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Horace; and among the moderns, Boileau, Corneille, Pope, and Dryden, are at least instances of genius not being destroyed by attention or subjection to rules and science.”
But the grossest errors on this subject have been committed by Alison, who says: “Artists, in every age, have taken pains to ascertain the most exact measurement of the human form, and of all its parts.... If the beauty of form consisted in any original proportion, the productions of the fine arts would everywhere have testified it; and, in the works of the statuary and the painter, we should have found only this sole and sacred system of proportion. The fact however is, as every one knows, that, in such productions, no such rule is observed; that there is no one proportion of parts which belongs to the most beautiful productions of these arts; that the proportions of the Apollo, for instance, are different from those of the Hercules, the Antinous, the Gladiator, &c.; and that there are not,in the whole catalogue of ancient statues, two, perhaps, of which the proportions are actually the same.”
Now, I believe, we may say that this original or most perfect proportion is presented in the Apollo, which is not, as generally supposed, an example ofpeculiar, but ofuniversalbeauty—the locomotive system presenting as much strength as is compatible with agility, and as much agility as is compatible with strength, and any other modification of either ensuring diminution of power; while the vital and mental systems are equally perfect. Wherever this model is deviated from by the ancient artists it ispeculiarbeauty, I believe, that is represented.
He farther says: “They have imagined also various standards of this measurement; and many disputes have arisen, whether the length of the head, of the foot, or of the nose, was to be considered as this central and sacred standard. Of such questions and such disputes, it is not possible to speak with seriousness, when they occur in the present times.” So also Burke says: “It must be likewise shown, that these parts stand in such a relation to each other, that the comparison between them may be easily made, and that the affection of the mind may naturally result from it.”
Now, no man in his senses ever cared which of these measures was adopted, except as a matter of convenience, or ever imagined that peculiar virtue resided in any of them.
The following are some of the principal ruleswhich either by intuition or with due definition, resulted from and guided the practice of the ancient Greeks.
First, in regard to theTHINKING SYSTEM, when the ancient artists, either from taste or from principle, gave greater opening to the facial angle than eighty degrees, they believed that an increase of intelligence corresponded to that conformation. By increasing the angle beyond eighty-five degrees, they impressed upon their figures the grandest character, as we see in the heads of the Apollo, the Venus, and others whose facial angle extends to or exceeds ninety degrees.
In regard tothe forehead, then, this afforded their rule for distinguishing beings of a superior kind. How well they observed the tendency of nature to increase that angle with the increase of some of the thinking faculties, we now know. This ideal rule was, therefore, admirably founded.
Whoever reflects on the nature of this angle will perceive that its increase tended nowise to raise the forehead, but to throw it forward, and therefore to lengthen the head. This conforms to the metaphor by which along headis used for awise head, and which has not yet given place to abroad head, preferred by the German craniologists, in compliment to their own organization.
With regard to the height of the forehead, it has already been observed that it was, among the ancient Greeks, more considerable than its breadth, as may be seen by the busts of their most illustrious men. Still, neither the natural nor the idealforehead much exceeded the space from the forehead to the bottom of the nose, or that from the nose to the bottom of the chin.
Winckelmann accordingly says: “The forehead to be beautiful should be low [meaning, as his expressions elsewhere show, no higher than the other two spaces just mentioned]; and its lowness was so fixed among the ideas of beauty by the Grecian artists, that it serves as a mark to distinguish modern heads from ancient. The reason of this appears founded in the very rules of proportion, which, as in the whole human body, was among the ancients tripartite: thus, the face also was divided into three parts; so that the forehead should be of the same length as the nose, and the remainder of the face to the chin of the same length likewise. This proportion was founded on observation, and we may at any time convince ourselves of it in any individual with a low forehead, by covering with a finger the hair at the top of the forehead, so as to render it so much higher, and we shall then see a want of harmony of proportion and how detrimental a high forehead is to beauty.”
These views of Winckelmann, the ideal rule which they illustrate, and, above all, the actual dimension of the forehead among the philosophers, the poets, and the legislators of Greece, whose genius has been unequalled in modern times, show the folly of the craniological hypothesis. The reason of the ideal rule has not, indeed, been assigned: it appears to me to be this, that the three parts of the face which, as I have shown both here andin my work on physiognomy, are respectively connected with ideas, emotions, and passions, should be equal one to another, or that these acts of the organs of sense and brain should be in due proportion and harmony. While, therefore, I do not, with the craniologists, seek the predominance of any one of them, neither do I, with Giovani de Laet, take no notice of the space between the top of the head and the commencement of the forehead, and say this part is not to be considered in the height of a man,quia pars excrementosa est!
Their next rule regarded the form ofthe nose, in nearly the same line with the forehead, and with little indentation between these parts.
The foundation of this rule I have not seen pointed out; and it was indeed difficult of discovery, without previous knowledge of the physiological fact first mentioned in my physiognomical work, namely, that the nose is the inlet of vital emotion or pleasure, as the eye is of mental emotion; while the passions connected with nutrition and thought respectively, depend upon other organs, the mouth and the ear. Anatomists know how closely associated are the nose and the eyes, and the mouth and the ears, respectively.
Now, as in these ideal representations, their object was to increase the means of emotion, but not those of passion, the organs of the former, the nose and the eyes, were all, at the same time, enlarged by raising the junction of the forehead and the nose; while those of passion, the mouth and the ears, were relatively decreased. Not only was thepassage of nose or of the olfactory nerves to the brain strikingly dilated by this elevation of the intermediate part, but the orbits of the eyes were enlarged. As then we naturally associate the increase of organs with the increase of their sensations and with corresponding effects upon the brain, and as the tendency to such configuration is as conspicuous in the countries they inhabited, as is the energy of the emotions with which they are connected, this rule was as admirably founded as the former in natural tendencies.
I deem this a pendant to Camper’s discovery of the facial angle, and one too which was not quite so obvious or so easy to be made. It disposes of this middle or intermediate part of the face, and shows that the Greeks in beings of the highest character, desired the gradual predominance of emotion over passion, and of ideas or intellect over emotion.
A vague feeling of the curious fact I have here explained, Alison, as a man of taste, had, when he said: “Apply, however, this beautiful form, to the countenance of the warrior, the bandit, the martyr, &c., or to any countenance which is meant to express deep or powerfulpassion, and the most vulgar spectator would be sensible of dissatisfaction, if not disgust.”
In endeavoring to assign a reason for the configuration which I have just explained, Winckelmann, in ascribing it to the mere production of effect, is driven into a ridiculous inconsistency. He thinks that for large statues seen at a distance, itwas necessary, and so came to be used for small medals seen near, for which it was not necessary.
“In the heads of statues, and particularly in ideal heads, the eyes are deeper set: the bulb remains more deep than is usual in nature, in which sunken eyes render the countenance austere and cunning instead of calm and joyful. In this respect, art has departed with reason from nature; for, in figures placed to be seen at a distance, if the bulb of the eye were level with the edge of the orbit, there would be no effect produced of light and shade; and the eye itself, placed under the eyebrows which do not project, would be dull and inexpressive. This maxim, adopted for large statues, became in time universal; so that it may be observed even on medals, not only in ideal heads but in portraits.” And elsewhere he says: “Art subsequently established it as a rule to give this form to the eyes even in small figures, as may be seen in the heads on coins.”
Thus Winckelmann’s reason avowedly explains only the half of that to which it is applied, and in reality explains nothing, because it leaves a gross inconsistency, of which Greek genius was incapable.
Of the general outline thus formed of the face, Winckelmann more truly says: “In the formation of the face, the Greek profile is the principal characteristic of sublime beauty. This profile is produced by the straight line, or the line but very slightly indented, which the forehead and nose form in youthful faces, especially female ones.Nature seems less disposed to accord this form to the face in cold than in mild and temperate climes; but wherever this profile is found, it is always beautiful. The straight full line expresses a kind of greatness, and, gently curved, it presents the idea of agreeable delicacy. That in these profiles exists one cause of beauty is proved by the character of the opposite line; for the greater the inflection of the nose, the less beautiful is the face; and if, when seen sidewise, it presents a bad profile, it is useless to look for beauty in any other view.”
Athird ruleof the Greek artists, in heads of the highest character, is greatly illustrated by the new views just stated. If, in these, they desired to render ideas and intellect more dominant than emotions of pleasure or pain, and emotions more dominant than passion, it becomes evident why they equally sought to avoid the convulsions of impassioned expression.
A very beautiful object of this, is mistaken by Winckelmann. I quote his words:—
“Taken in either sense [of action or of passion], expression changes the features of the face, and the disposition of the body, and, consequently, the forms which constitute beauty; and the greater the change, the greater the loss of beauty. Therefore, the state of tranquillity and repose was considered as a fundamental point in the art. Tranquillity is the state proper to beauty.
“The handsomest men are generally the most mild and the best disposed.
“Besides, tranquillity and repose, both in menand animals, is the state which allows us best to examine and represent their nature and qualities; as we can see the bottom of the sea or rivers only when the waves are tranquil and the stream runs smoothly.
“Therefore, the Grecian artists, wishing to depict, in their representations of their deities, the perfection of human beauty, strove to produce, in their countenances and actions, a certain placidity without the slightest change or perturbation, which, according to their philosophy, was at variance with the nature and character of the gods. The figures produced in this state of repose, expressed a perfect equilibrium of feeling.
“But, as complete tranquillity and repose cannot exist in figures in action, and even the gods are represented in human form, and subject to human affections, we must not always expect to find in them the most sublime idea of beauty. This is then compensated for by expression. The ancient artists, however, never lost sight of it: it was always their principal object, to which expression was in some sort made subservient.
“Beauty without expression would be insignificant, and expression without beauty would be unpleasing; but, from their influence over each other, from combining together their apparently discordant qualities, results an eloquent, persuasive, and interesting beauty.”
Some of these remarks are true and beautiful; butthe great object of the Greeks, in suppressing the convulsions of impassioned expression, was thebestowal of grace, the highest quality in all representation. It is surprising that this should have been so universally overlooked, that, even among artists, nothing is more common than to hear regrets that the Greeks gave so little expression to their figures! Let the reader now peruse again Dr. Smith’s and Mr. Alison’s account of grace, and if he is acquainted with the productions of ancient art, he will see that the Greeks suppressed impassioned expression only to bestow the highest degree of grace. Those, therefore, who complain of this, show themselves ignorant of the best object of their art.
If the explanation of this great purpose be clearly borne in mind, the remaining observations of Winckelmann will receive a better application than that to which he limited them:—
“Repose and tranquillity may be regarded as the effect of that composed manner which the Grecians studied to show in their actions and gestures. Among them, a hurried gait was regarded as contrary to the idea of decent deportment, and partaking somewhat of expressive boldness.... While on the other hand, slow and regulated motions of the body were proofs among the ancients of a great mind.
“The highest idea of tranquillity and composure is found expressed in the representations of the divinities; so that from the father of the gods to the inferior deities, their figures appear free from the influence of any affection. The greatest of the poets thus describes Jupiter as making all Olympustremble by merely moving his eyebrow or shaking his locks.... All the figures of Jupiter are not however made in the same style.
“The Vatican Apollo represents this god quiet and tranquil after the death of the serpent Python which he had slain with a dart, and should also express a certain contempt for a victory so easy to him. The skilful artist, who wished to imbody the most beautiful of the gods, has depicted anger in the nose, which according to the most ancient poets was the seat of it, and contempt in the lips: contempt is expressed by the drawing up of the under lip, and anger by the expansion of the nostrils.
“The expression of the passions in the face should accord with the attitude and gestures of the body; and the latter should be suitable to the dignity of the gods in their statues and figures: from this results its propriety.
“In representing the figures of heroes, the ancient artist exercised equal care and judgment; and expressed only those human affections which are suitable for a wise man, who represses the violence of his passions, and scarcely allows a spark of the internal flame to be seen, so as to leave to those who are desirous of it, the trouble of finding out what remains concealed.
“We have examples of this in two of the most beautiful works of antiquity, one of which is the image of the fear of certain death, the other of suffering exceeding anguish.
“Niobe and her daughters, against whom Diana shot her fatal arrows, are represented as seized withterror and horror, in that state of indescribable anguish, when the sight of instant and inevitable death deprives the mind of the power of thought. Of this state of stupor and insensibility, the fable gives us an idea in the metamorphosis of Niobe into a stone; and hence Æschylus introduces her in his tragedy as stunned and speechless. In such a moment, when all thought and feeling ceases, in a state bordering upon insensibility, the appearance is not altered nor any feature of the face disturbed, and the mighty artist could here depict the most sublime beauty, and has indeed done so. Niobe and her daughters are, and ever will be, the most perfect models of beauty.
“Laocoon is the image of the most acute grief, that puts the nerves, the muscles, and the veins, in action. His blood is in a state of extreme agitation from the venomous bite of the serpents; every part of his body evinces pain and suffering; and the artist has put in motion, so to speak, all the springs of nature, and thus made known the extent of his art and the depth of his knowledge. In the representation, however, of this excessive torment, we can still recognise the conduct of a brave man struggling against his misfortunes, stifling the emotions of his anguish, and striving to repress them.”
“The ancient artists have preserved this air of composure even in their dancing figures, except the Bacchanals; and thus an opinion obtained that the action of their figures should be modelled on the manners adopted in their ancient dances, and therefore, in their later dances, the ancient figuresserved as a model to the performers to prevent their overstepping the bounds of a modest deportment:
Molli diducunt candida gestuBrachia.Propert.
“No immoderate or violent passions are ever found expressed in the public works of the ancients.
“The knowledge of the ancients cannot be better known than by comparing their performances with the majority of those of the moderns, in which a little is expressed by much, instead of much by a little. This is what the Greeks callπαρενθύρσος; a word that aptly expresses the defect produced by too much expression in modern artists. Their figures resemble in action the comedians of the ancient theatre, who, to render themselves visible even to the most distant portion of the audience, were compelled to exceed the limits of nature and truth; and the faces of modern figures are like the ancient masks, which for the same reason, the increase of expression, became hideous.
“This excess of expression is taught in a book which goes into the hands of all young artists, ‘A Treatise on the Passions,’ by Carlo Le Brun, and in the annexed drawings, not only is the highest degree of passion expressed on the face, but in some even to madness.”
Hence, we may say with Azara, that “the Greeks possessed that art in such perfection, that in their statues one scarcely discovers that they had thought of expression, and nevertheless each says that which it ought to say. They are in a repose which showsall the beauty without any alteration; and a soft and sweet motion, of the mouth, the eyes, or the mere action, expresses the effect, enchanting at once the mind and the senses.”
In the inferior beings, however, when passion is expressed, the features are varied by the Greek artists as they are in nature.
Such are the great ideal rules with regard to the head and the functions of thought.
With regard to the body and theNUTRITIVE SYSTEM, the Greeks similarly idealized. “Seeking for images of worship, consequently of a nature superior to our own, so that they might awaken in the mind veneration and love, they thought that the representations most worthy of the Divinity, and most likely to attract the attention of man, would be those expressing the continuance of the gods in eternal youth and in the prime of life.
“To the idea derived from the poets, of the eternal youth of the deities, whether male or female, was added another by which they supposed the female divinities should have all the appearance of virgins.
“The form of the breast in the figures of the divinities, is like that of a virgin, which, to be beautiful, must possess a moderate fulness. This was particularly shown in the breasts, which the artists represented without nipples, like those of young girls, whose cincture, in the poet’s phrase, Lucina has not yet undone.
On their treatment of the limbs andLOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM, Hogarth throws light; and, as I am notaware that he was anticipated in this respect, I quote him:—
“May be,” he says, “I cannot throw a stronger light on what has been hitherto said of proportion, than by animadverting on a remarkable beauty in the Apollo Belvidere, which hath given it the preference even to the Antinous: I mean a superaddition of greatness, to at least as much beauty and grace as is found in the latter.
“These two masterpieces of art are seen together in the same apartment at Rome, where the Antinous fills the spectator with admiration only, while the Apollo strikes him with surprise, and, as travellers express themselves, with an appearance of something more than human; which they of course are always at a loss to describe: and this effect, they say, is the more astonishing, as, upon examination, its disproportion is evident even to a common eye. One of the best sculptors we have in England, who lately went to see them, confirmed to me what has been now said, particularly as to the legs and thighs being too long, and too large for the upper parts.
“Although, in very great works, we often see an inferior part neglected, yet here it cannot be the case, because, in a fine statue, just proportion is one of its essential beauties: therefore, it stands to reason, that these limbs must have been lengthened on purpose, otherwise it might have been easily avoided.
“So that if we examine the beauties of this figure thoroughly we may reasonably conclude,that what has been hitherto thought so unaccountably excellent in its general appearance, has been owing to what has seemed a blemish in a part of it: but let us endeavor to make this matter as clear as possible, as it may add more force to what has been said.
“Statues, by being bigger than life (as this one is, and larger than the Antinous), always gain some nobleness in effect, according to the principle of quantity, but this alone is not sufficient to give what is properly to be called greatness in proportion.... Greatness of proportion must be considered as depending on the application of quantity to those parts of the body where it can give more scope to its grace in movement, as to the neck for the larger and swanlike turns of the head, and to the legs and thighs, for the more ample sway of all the upper parts together.
“By which we find that the Antinous being equally magnified to the Apollo’s height, would not sufficiently produce that superiority of effect, as to greatness, so evidently seen in the latter. The additions necessary to the production of this greatness in proportion, as it there appears added to grace, must then be, by the proper application of them to the parts mentioned only.
“I know not how farther to prove this matter than by appealing to the reader’s eye, and common observation, as before.... The Antinous being allowed to have the justest proportion possible, let us see what addition, upon the principle of quantity,can be made to it, without taking away any of its beauty.
“If we imagine an addition of dimensions to the head, we shall immediately conceive it would only deform—if to the hands or feet, we are sensible of something gross and ungenteel—if to the whole lengths of the arms, we feel they would be dangling and awkward—if, by an addition of length or breadth to the body, we know it would appear heavy and clumsy—there remains then only the neck, with the legs and thighs to speak of; but to these we find, that not only certain additions may be admitted without causing any disagreeable effect, but that thereby greatness, the last perfection as to the proportion, is given to the human form, as is evidently expressed in the Apollo.”
This is well done by Hogarth. It required but a little anatomical knowledge to see the reason of this. The length of the neck, by which the head is farther detached from the trunk, shows the independence of the higher intellectual system upon the lower one of mere nutrition; and the length of limbs shows that the mind had ready obedience in locomotive power.
I have now to obviate someOBJECTIONSto the existence of simple, pure, high, and perfect ideal beauty, objections, which writers on this subject have hitherto neglected.
Alison says: “The proportions of the form of the infant are very different from those of youth; these again from those of manhood; and these again perhaps still more from those of old age anddecay.... Yet every one knows, not only that each of these periods is susceptible of beautiful form, but, what is much more, that the actual beauty in every period consists in the preservation of the proportions peculiar to that period, and that these differ in every article almost from those that are beautiful in other periods of the life of the same individual.”