DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18825#0079
LECT. III.] HISTORY OF ART. 6g
" If the uniformity of figures, parts, or lines,
were truly the chief cause of Beauty, the more ex-
actly uniform their appearances were kept, the more
pleasure the eye would receive : but this is so far
from being the case, that when the mind has been
once satisfied that the parts answer one another, with
so exact an uniformity, as to preserve to the whole
the charadter of fitness—to stand, to move, to sink,
to swim, to fly, &c. without losing the balance :
the eye is rejoiced to see the object, turned, and
shifted, so as to vary these uniform appearances.
i( Thus the profiles of most objects, as well as
faces, are rather more pleasing than their full fronts.
" Whence it is clear, the pleasure does not arise
from seeing the exact resemblance which one side
bears to the other, but from the knowledge that tibey
do so on account of fitness, with design, and for use..
For when the head of a fine woman is turned a little
to one side, which takes off from the exact simila-
rity of the two halves of the face, and somewhat
reclining, so varying still more from the straight and
parallel lines of a formal front face, it is always
looked upon as most pleasing. This is accordingly
said to be a graceful air of the head.
" It is a constant rule of composition in painting
to avoid regularity. When we view a building, or
any other object in life, we have it in our power, by
shifting the ground, to take that view of it which
pleases us best; and in consequence of this, the
painter (if he is left to his choice) takes it on the
angle rather than in front, as most agreeable to the
eye; because the regularity of the lines is taken
away
" If the uniformity of figures, parts, or lines,
were truly the chief cause of Beauty, the more ex-
actly uniform their appearances were kept, the more
pleasure the eye would receive : but this is so far
from being the case, that when the mind has been
once satisfied that the parts answer one another, with
so exact an uniformity, as to preserve to the whole
the charadter of fitness—to stand, to move, to sink,
to swim, to fly, &c. without losing the balance :
the eye is rejoiced to see the object, turned, and
shifted, so as to vary these uniform appearances.
i( Thus the profiles of most objects, as well as
faces, are rather more pleasing than their full fronts.
" Whence it is clear, the pleasure does not arise
from seeing the exact resemblance which one side
bears to the other, but from the knowledge that tibey
do so on account of fitness, with design, and for use..
For when the head of a fine woman is turned a little
to one side, which takes off from the exact simila-
rity of the two halves of the face, and somewhat
reclining, so varying still more from the straight and
parallel lines of a formal front face, it is always
looked upon as most pleasing. This is accordingly
said to be a graceful air of the head.
" It is a constant rule of composition in painting
to avoid regularity. When we view a building, or
any other object in life, we have it in our power, by
shifting the ground, to take that view of it which
pleases us best; and in consequence of this, the
painter (if he is left to his choice) takes it on the
angle rather than in front, as most agreeable to the
eye; because the regularity of the lines is taken
away