The science of beauty, as developed in nature and applied in art

by David Ramsay Hay

Works by the Same Author.

I.
In royal 8vo, with Copperplate Illustrations, price 2s. 6d.,
THE HARMONIC LAW OF NATURE APPLIED TO ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.

From the Athenæum.

The beauty of the theory is its universality, and its simplicity. In nature, the Creator accomplished his purposes by the simplest means—the harmony of nature is indestructible and self-restoring. Mr Hay’s book on the “Parthenon,” on the “Natural Principles of Beauty as developed in the Human Figure,” his “Principles of Symmetrical Beauty,” his “Principles of Colouring, and Nomenclature of Colours,” his “Science of Proportion,” and “Essay on Ornamental Design,” we have already noticed with praise as the results of philosophical and original thought.

From the Daily News.

This essay is a new application to Lincoln cathedral in Gothic architecture, and to the Temple of Theseus in Greek architecture, of the principles of symmetrical beauty already so profusely illustrated and demonstrated by Mr Hay. The theory which Mr Hay has propounded in so many volumes is not only a splendid contribution towards a science of æsthetic proportions, but, for the first time in the history of art, proves the possibility, and lays the foundations of such a science. To those who are not acquainted with the facts, these expressions will sound hyperbolical, but they are most true.

II.
In royal 8vo, with Copperplate Illustrations, price 5s.,
THE NATURAL PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY, AS DEVELOPED IN THE HUMAN FIGURE.

From the Spectator.

We cannot refuse to entertain Mr Hay’s system as of singular intrinsic excellence. The simplicity of his law and its generality impress themselves more deeply on the conviction with each time of enforcement. His theory proceeds from the idea, that in nature every thing is effected by means more simple than any other that could have been conceived,—an idea certainly consistent with whatever we can trace out or imagine of the all-wise framing of the universe.

From the Sun.

By founding (if we may so phrase it) this noble theory, Mr Hay has covered his name with distinction, and has laid the basis, we conceive, of no ephemeral reputation. By illustrating it anew, through the medium of this graceful treatise, he has conferred a real boon upon the community, for he has afforded the public another opportunity of following the golden rule of the poet—by looking through the holy and awful mystery of creation to the holier and yet more awful mystery of Omnipotence.

From the Cambridge Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology.

The inquiries which of late years have been instituted by Mr D. R. Hay of Edinburgh, on the proportions of the human figure, and on the natural principles of beauty, as illustrated by works of Greek art, constitute an epoch in the study of æsthetics and the philosophy of form.

III.
In royal 8vo, with Copperplate Illustrations, price 5s.,
THE ORTHOGRAPHIC BEAUTY OF THE PARTHENON REFERRED TO A LAW OF NATURE.

To which are prefixed, a few Observations on the Importance of Æsthetic Science as an Element in Architectural Education.

From the Scottish Literary Gazette.

We think this work will satisfy every impartial mind that Mr Hay has developed the true theory of the Parthenon—that he has, in fact, to use a kindred phraseology, both parsed and scanned this exquisitely beautiful piece of architectural composition, and that, in doing so, he has provided the true key by which the treasures of Greek art may be further unlocked, and rendered the means of correcting, improving, and elevating modern practice.

From the Edinburgh Guardian.

Again and again the attempt has been made to detect harmonic ratios in the measurement of Athenian architecture, but ever without reward. Mr Hay has, however, made the discovery, and to an extent of which no one had previously dreamt.

IV.
In 8vo, 100 Plates, price 6s.,
FIRST PRINCIPLES OF SYMMETRICAL BEAUTY.

From the Spectator.

This is a grammar of pure form, in which the elements of symmetrical, as distinguished from picturesque beauty, are demonstrated, by reducing the outlines or planes of curvilinear and rectilinear forms to their origin in the principles of geometrical proportion. In thus analysing symmetry of outline in natural and artificial objects, Mr Hay determines the fixed principles of beauty in positive shape, and shews how beautiful forms may be reproduced and infinitely varied with mathematical precision. Hitherto the originating and copying of beautiful forms have been alike empirical; the production of a new design for a vase or a jug has been a matter of chance between the eye and the hand; and the copying of a Greek moulding or ornament, a merely mechanical process. By a series of problems, Mr Hay places both the invention and imitation of beautiful forms on a sure basis of science, giving to the fancy of original minds a clue to the evolving of new and elegant shapes, in which the infinite resources of nature are made subservient to the uses of art.

The volume is illustrated by one hundred diagrams beautifully executed, that serve to explain the text, and suggest new ideas of beauty of contour in common objects. To designers of pottery, hardware, and architectural ornaments, this work is particularly valuable; but artists of every kind, and workmen of intelligence, will find it of great utility.

From the Athenæum.

The volume before us is the seventh of Mr Hay’s works. It is the most practical and systematic, and likely to be one of the most useful. It is, in short, a grammar of form, or a spelling-book of beauty. This is beginning at the right end of the matter; and the necessity for this kind of knowledge will inevitably, though gradually, be felt. The work will, therefore, be ultimately appreciated and adopted as an introduction to the study of beautiful forms.

The third part of the work treats of the Greek oval or composite ellipse, as Mr Hay calls it. It is an ellipse of three foci, and gives practical forms for vases and architectural mouldings, which are curious to the architect, and will be very useful both to the potter, the moulder, and the pattern-drawer. A fourth part contains applications of this to practice. Of the details worked out with so much judgment and ingenuity by Mr Hay, we should in vain attempt to communicate just notions without the engravings of which his book is full. We must, therefore, refer to the work itself. The forms there given are full of beauty, and so far tend to prove the system.

V.
In 8vo, 14 Coloured Diagrams, Second Edition, price 15s.,
THE PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY IN COLOURING SYSTEMATISED.

From the Spectator.

In this new analysis of the harmonies of colour, Mr Hay has performed the useful service of tracing to the operation of certain fixed principles the sources of beauty in particular combinations of hues and tints; so that artists may, by the aid of this book, produce, with mathematical certainty, the richest effects, hitherto attainable by genius alone. Mr Hay has reduced this branch of art to a perfect system, and proved that an offence against good taste in respect to combinations of colour is, in effect, a violation of natural laws.

VI.
In 8vo, 228 Examples of Colours, Hues, Tints, and Shades, price 63s.,
A NOMENCLATURE OF COLOURS, APPLICABLE TO THE ARTS AND NATURAL SCIENCES.

From the Daily News.

In this work Mr Hay has brought a larger amount of practical knowledge to bear on the subject of colour than any other writer with whom we are acquainted, and in proportion to this practical knowledge is, as might be expected, the excellence of his treatise. There is much in this volume which we would most earnestly recommend to the notice of artists, house decorators, and, indeed, to all whose business or profession requires a knowledge of the management of colour. The work is replete with hints which they might turn to profitable account, and which they will find nowhere else.

From the Athenæum.

We have formerly stated the high opinion we entertain of Mr Hay’s previous exertions for the improvement of decorative art in this country. We have already awarded him the merit of invention and creation of the new and the beautiful in form. In his former treatises he furnished a theory of definite proportions for the creation of the beautiful in form. In the present work he proposes to supply a scale of definite proportions for chromatic beauty. For this purpose he sets out very properly with a precise nomenclature of colour. In this he has constructed a vocabulary for the artist—an alphabet for the artizan. He has gone further—he constructs words for three syllables. From this time, it will be possible to write a letter in Edinburgh about a coloured composition, which shall be read off in London, Paris, St Petersburg, or Pekin, and shall so express its nature that it can be reproduced in perfect identity. This Mr Hay has done, or at least so nearly, as to deserve our thanks on behalf of art, and artists of all grades, even to the decorative artizan—not one of whom, be he house-painter, china pattern-drawer, or calico printer, should be without the simple manual of “words for colours.”

VII.
In post 8vo, with a Coloured Diagram, Sixth Edition, price 7s. 6d.,
THE LAWS OF HARMONIOUS COLOURING ADAPTED TO INTERIOR DECORATIONS.

From the Atlas.

Every line of this useful book shews that the author has contrived to intellectualise his subject in a very interesting manner. The principles of harmony in colour as applied to decorative purposes, are explained and enforced in a lucid and practical style, and the relations of the various tints and shades to each other, so as to produce a harmonious result, are descanted upon most satisfactorily and originally.

From the Edinburgh Review.

In so far as we know, Mr Hay is the first and only modern artist who has entered upon the study of these subjects without the trammels of prejudice and authority. Setting aside the ordinances of fashion, as well as the dicta of speculation, he has sought the foundation of his profession in the properties of light, and in the laws of visual sensation, by which these properties are recognised and modified. The truths to which he has appealed are fundamental and irrefragable.

From the Athenæum.

We have regarded, and do still regard, the production of Mr Hay’s works as a remarkable psychological phenomenon—one which is instructive both for the philosopher and the critic to study with care and interest, not unmingled with respect. We see how his mind has been gradually guided by Nature herself out of one track, and into another, and ever and anon leading him to some vein of the beautiful and true, hitherto unworked.

VIII.
In 4to, 25 Plates, price 36s.,
ON THE SCIENCE OF THOSE PROPORTIONS BY WHICH THE HUMAN HEAD AND COUNTENANCE, AS REPRESENTED IN ANCIENT GREEK ART, ARE DISTINGUISHED FROM THOSE OF ORDINARY NATURE.

(PRINTED BY PERMISSION.)

From a Letter to the Author by Sir William Hamilton, Bart., Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in the Edinburgh University.

Your very elegant volume, “Science of those Proportions,” &c., is to me extremely interesting, as affording an able contribution to what is the ancient, and, I conceive, the true theory of the beautiful. But though your doctrine coincides with the one prevalent through all antiquity, it appears to me quite independent and original in you; and I esteem it the more that it stands opposed to the hundred one-sided and exclusive views prevalent in modern times.

From Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal.

We now come to another, and much more remarkable corroboration, which calls upon us to introduce to our readers one of the most valuable and original contributions that have ever been made to the Philosophy of Art, viz., Mr Hay’s work “On the Science of those Proportions,” &c. Mr Hay’s plan is simply to form a scale composed of the well-known vibrations of the monochord, which are the alphabet of music, and then to draw upon the quadrant of a circle angles answering to these vibrations. With the series of triangles thus obtained he combines a circle and an ellipse, the proportions of which are derived from the triangles themselves; and thus he obtains an infallible rule for the composition of the head of ideal beauty.

IX.
In 4to, 16 Plates, price 30s.,
THE GEOMETRIC BEAUTY OF THE HUMAN FIGURE DEFINED.

To which is prefixed, a SYSTEM of ÆSTHETIC PROPORTION applicable to ARCHITECTURE and the other FORMATIVE ARTS.

From the Cambridge Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology.

We feel bound to pay Mr Hay a large and glad tribute of praise for having devised a system of proportions which rises superior to the idiosyncrasies of different artists, which brings back to one common type the sensations of Eye and Ear, and so makes a giant stride towards that codification of the laws of the universe which it is the business of science to effect. We have no hesitation in saying that, for scientific precision of method and importance of results, Albert Durer, Da Vinci, and Hogarth—not to mention less noteworthy writers—must all yield the palm to Mr Hay.

X.
In oblong folio, 57 Plates and numerous Woodcuts, price 42s.,
AN ESSAY ON ORNAMENTAL DESIGN, IN WHICH ITS TRUE PRINCIPLES ARE DEVELOPED AND ELUCIDATED, &c.

From the Athenæum.

In conclusion, Mr Hay’s book goes forth with our best wishes. It must be good. It must be prolific of thought—stimulant of invention. It is to be acknowledged as a benefit of an unusual character conferred on the arts of ornamental design.

From the Spectator.

Mr Hay has studied the subject deeply and scientifically. In this treatise on ornamental design, the student will find a clue to the discovery of the source of an endless variety of beautiful forms and combinations of lines, in the application of certain fixed laws of harmonious proportion to the purposes of art. Mr Hay also exemplifies the application of his theory of linear harmony to the production of beautiful forms generally, testing its soundness by applying it to the human figure, and the purest creations of Greek art.

From Fraser’s Magazine.

Each part of this work is enriched by diagrams of great beauty, direct emanations of principle, and, consequently, presenting entirely new combinations of form. Had our space permitted, we should have made some extracts from this “Essay on Ornamental Design;” and we would have done so, because of the discriminating taste by which it is pervaded, and the forcible observations which it contains; but we cannot venture on the indulgence.

XI.
In 4to, 17 Plates and 38 Woodcuts, price 25s.,
PROPORTION, OR THE GEOMETRIC PRINCIPLE OF BEAUTY ANALYSED.

XII.
In 4to, 18 Plates and numerous Woodcuts, price 15s.,
THE NATURAL PRINCIPLES AND ANALOGY OF THE HARMONY OF FORM.

From the Edinburgh Review.

Notwithstanding some trivial points of difference between Mr Hay’s views and our own, we have derived the greatest pleasure from the perusal of these works. They are all composed with accuracy and even elegance. His opinions and views are distinctly brought before the reader, and stated with that modesty which characterises genius, and that firmness which indicates truth.

From Blackwood’s Magazine.

We have no doubt that when Mr Hay’s Art-discovery is duly developed and taught, as it should be, in our schools, it will do more to improve the general taste than anything which has yet been devised.