Beauty: Illustrated Chiefly by an Analysis and Classificatin of Beauty in Woman

by Alexander Walker

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 and in 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 of the 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 the passage 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 powerful passion, 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, it was 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.”