THE SCIENCE OF BEAUTY, AS DEVELOPED IN THE HUMAN HEAD AND COUNTENANCE.
The most remarkable characteristics of the human head and countenance are the globular form of the cranium, united as it is with the prolate spheroidal form produced by the parts which constitute the face, and the approximation of the profile to the vertical; for in none of the lower animals does the skull present so near a resemblance to a combination of these geometric forms, nor the plane of the face to this direction. We also find that although these peculiar characteristics are variously modified among the numerous races of mankind, yet one law appears to govern the beauty of the whole. The highest and most cultivated of these races, however, present only an approximation to the perfect development of those distinguishing marks of humanity; and therefore the beauty of form and proportion which in nature characterises the human head and countenance, exhibits only a partial development of the harmonic law of visible beauty. On the other hand, we find that, in their sculpture, the ancient Greeks surpassed ordinary nature, and produced in their beau ideal a species of beauty free from the imperfections and peculiarities that constitute the individuality by which the countenances of men are distinguished from each other. It may be requisite here to remark, that this species of beauty is independent of the more intellectual quality of expression. For as Sir Charles Bell has said, “Beauty of countenance may be defined in words, as well as demonstrated in art. A face may be beautiful in sleep, and a statue without expression may be highly beautiful. But it will be said there is expression in the sleeping figure or in the statue. Is it not rather that we see in these the capacity for expression?—that our minds are active in imagining what may be the motions of these features when awake or animated? Thus, we speak of an expressive face before we have seen a movement grave or cheerful, or any indication in the features of what prevails in the heart.”
This capacity for expression certainly enhances our admiration of the human countenance; but it is more a concomitant of the primary cause of its beauty than the cause itself. This cause rests on that simple and secure basis—the harmonic law of nature; for the nearer the countenance approximates to an harmonious combination of the most perfect figures in geometry, or rather the more its general form and the relation of its individual parts are arranged in obedience to that law, the higher its degree of beauty, and the greater its capacity for the expression of the passions.
Various attempts have been made to define geometrically the difference between the ordinary and the ideal beauty of the human head and countenance, the most prominent of which is that of Camper. He traced, upon a profile of the skull, a line in a horizontal direction, passing through the foramen of the ear and the exterior margin of the sockets of the front teeth of the upper jaw, upon which he raised an oblique line, tangential to the margin of these sockets, and to the most prominent part of the forehead. Agreeably to the obliquity of this line, he determined the relative proportion of the areas occupied by the brain and by the face, and hence inferred the degree of intellect. When he applied this measurement to the heads of the antique statues, he found the angle much greater than in ordinary nature; but that this simple fact afforded no rule for the reproduction of the ideal beauty of ancient Greek art, is very evident from the heads and countenances by which his treatise is illustrated. Sir Charles Bell justly remarks, that although, by Camper’s method, the forehead may be thrown forward, yet, while the features of common nature are preserved, we refuse to acknowledge a similarity to the beautiful forms of the antique marbles. “It is true,” he says, “that, by advancing the forehead, it is raised, the face is shortened, and the eye brought to the centre of the head. But with all this, there is much wanting—that which measurement, or a mere line, will not shew us.”—“The truth is, that we are more moved by the features than by the form of the whole head. Unless there be a conformity in every feature to the general shape of the head, throwing the forehead forward on the face produces deformity; and the question returns with full force—How is it that we are led to concede that the antique head of the Apollo, or of the Jupiter, is beautiful when the facial line makes a hundred degrees with the horizontal line? In other words—How do we admit that to be beautiful which is not natural? Simply for the same reason that, if we discover a broken portion of an antique, a nose, or a chin of marble, we can say, without deliberation—This must have belonged to a work of antiquity; which proves that the character is distinguishable in every part—in each feature, as well as in the whole head.”
Dr Oken says upon this subject:[17]—“The face is beautiful whose nose is parallel to the spine. No human face has grown into this estate; but every nose makes an acute angle with the spine. The facial angle is, as is well known, 80°. What, as yet, no man has remarked, and what is not to be remarked, either, without our view of the cranial signification, the old masters have felt through inspiration. They have not only made the facial angle a right angle, but have even stepped beyond this—the Romans going up to 96°, the Greeks even to 100°. Whence comes it that this unnatural face of the Grecian works of art is still more beautiful than that of the Roman, when the latter comes nearer to nature? The reason thereof resides in the fact of the Grecian artistic face representing nature’s design more than that of the Roman; for, in the former, the nose is placed quite perpendicular, or parallel to the spinal cord, and thus returns whither it has been derived.”
Other various and conflicting opinions upon this subject have been given to the world; but we find that the principle from which arose the ideal beauty of the head and countenance, as represented in works of ancient Greek art, is still a matter of dispute. When, however, we examine carefully a fine specimen, we find its beauty and grandeur to depend more upon the degree of harmony amongst its parts, as to their relative proportions and mode of arrangement, than upon their excellence taken individually. It is, therefore, clear that those (and they are many) who attribute the beauty of ancient Greek sculpture merely to a selection of parts from various models, must be in error. No assemblage of parts from ordinary nature could have produced its principal characteristic, the excess in the angle of the facial line, much less could it have led to that exquisite harmony of parts by which it is so eminently distinguished; neither can we reasonably agree with Dr Oken and others, who assert that it was produced by an exclusive degree of the inspiration of genius amongst the Greek people during a certain period.
That the inspiration of genius, combined with a careful study of nature, were essential elements in the production of the great works which have been handed down to us, no one will deny; but these elements have existed in all ages, whilst the ideal head belongs exclusively to the Greeks during the period in which the schools of Pythagoras and Plato were open. Is it not, therefore, reasonable to suppose, that, besides genius and the study of nature, another element was employed in the production of this excellence, and that this element arose from the precise mathematical doctrines taught in the schools of these philosophers?
An application of the great harmonic law seems to prove that there is no object in nature in which the science of beauty is more clearly developed than in the human head and countenance, nor to the representations of which the same science is more easily applied; and it is to the mode in which this is done that the varieties of sex and character may be imparted to works of art. Having gone into full detail, and given ample illustrations in a former work,[18] it is unnecessary for me to enter upon that part of the subject in this résumé; but only to shew the typical structure of beauty by which this noble work of creation is distinguished.
The angles which govern the form and proportions of the human head and countenance are, with the right angle, a series of seven, which, from the simplicity of their ratios to each other, are calculated to produce the most perfect concord. It consists of the right angle and its following parts—
| Tonic. | Dominant. | Mediant. | Subtonic. |
|---|---|---|---|
| (¹⁄₂) | (¹⁄₃) | (¹⁄₅) | (¹⁄₇) |
| (¹⁄₄) | (¹⁄₆) |
These angles, and the figures which belong to them, are thus arranged:—
The vertical line A B ([Plate IX.] fig. 2) represents the full length of the head and face. Taking this line as the greater axis of an ellipse of (¹⁄₃), such an ellipse is described around it. Through A the lines A G, A K, A L, A M, and A N, are drawn on each side of the line A B, making, with the vertical, respectively the angles of (¹⁄₃), (¹⁄₄), (¹⁄₅), (¹⁄₆), and (¹⁄₇). Through the points G, K, L, M, and N, where these straight lines meet the curved line of the ellipse, horizontal lines are drawn by which the following isosceles triangles are formed, A G G, A K K, A L L, A M M, and A N N. From the centre X of the equilateral triangle A G G the curvilinear figure of (¹⁄₂), viz., the circle, is described circumscribing that triangle.
The curvilinear plane figures of (¹⁄₂) and (¹⁄₃), respectively, represent the solid bodies of which they are sections, viz., a sphere and a prolate spheroid. These bodies, from the manner in which they are here placed, are partially amalgamated, as shewn in figures 1 and 3 of the same plate, thus representing the form of the human head and countenance, both in their external appearance and osseous structure, more correctly than they could be represented by any other geometrical figures. Thus, the angles of (¹⁄₂) and (¹⁄₃) determine the typical form.
From each of the points u and n, where A M cuts G G on both sides of A B, a circle is described through the points p and q, where A K cuts G G on both sides of A B, and with the same radius a circle is described from the point a, where K K cuts A B.
The circles u and n determine the position and size of the eyeballs, and the circle a the width of the nose, as also the horizontal width of the mouth.
The lines G G and K K also determine the length of the joinings of the ear to the head. The lines L L and M M determine the vertical width of the mouth and lips when at perfect repose, and the line N N the superior edge of the chin. Thus simply are the features arranged and proportioned on the facial surface.
It must, however, be borne in mind, that in treating simply of the æsthetic beauty of the human head and countenance, we have only to do with the external appearance. In this research, therefore, the system of Dr Camper, Dr Owen, and others, whose investigations were more of a physiological than an æsthetic character, can be of little service; because, according to that system, the facial angle is determined by drawing a line tangential to the exterior margin of the sockets of the front teeth of the upper jaw, and the most prominent part of the forehead. Now, as these sockets are, when the skull is naturally clothed, and the features in repose, entirely concealed by the upper lip, we must take the prominent part of it, instead of the sockets under it, in order to determine properly this distinguishing mark of humanity. And I believe it will be found, that when the head is properly poised, the nearer the angle which this line makes with the horizontal approaches 90°, the more symmetrically beautiful will be the general arrangement of the parts (see line y z, figure 3, [Plate IX.]).