DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0084
BEAUTY.
manner round the face. It is this judicious and pleasing intermixture of colours that gives
that beautiful bloom and pleasing look to the face, which so powerful!)' attract the eyes and en-
gage the heart.
With regard to the general ground of complexion, artists are pretty universally agreed that a
complete brown beauty is preferable to a perfect fair one; the bright brown giving a lustre to all the
other colours, a vivacity to the eyes, and a certain mellow richness to the whole look, which is not
to be found in the whitest and most transparent skins. The charming Madonna de la Sedia of
Raphael is a brunette beauty ; but his earlier Madonnas, or those of his middle style, are gene-
rally of a lighter and less pleasing complexion. About the Pontificate of Leo X., when paint-
ing in Italy was at its zenith, the best artists used a deeper and richer kind of colouring than in
after times : but Guido no sooner introduced his glaring lights than the art began to decline :
and Carlo Maratti degenerated still farther, and by more enfeebling the colours laid the found-
ation of a practice which, his followers still adhering to, injured this noble art in Italy. There
are some other effects of colour not generally noticed under this head, though they no doubt are,
in a great measure, if not wholly, the production of tints: these are, that apparent softness or
siikiness of some skins ; that penitent look in some faces after weeping, which appears in the
Magdalens of the best painters where, though there be no tears, by the humid redness of the skin,
it may be discovered that she had been weeping. A strong instance of this may be seen in a
Magdalen of Le Brun, in one of the churches of Paris. Titian produced several excellent ones,
the best of which is at the Barbarigo palace at Venice; of which Rosalba said that " it wept all
over." To these may be added that brightness as well as tint of the hair, of which so much has
been said, and so many directions given by artists; that lustre commonly called the bloom of
health that, as it were, shines forth through the features; that luminousness that appeal's in some
eyes, and that glistening or fluid fire in others. All these properly come under the head of co-
lour, to which they are principally though perhaps not intirely indebted for their existence ; thus
it may be seen that this, though the lowest part of beauty, is by no means inconsiderable, nor
beneath the artist's attention, as it gives birth to so many pleasing properties.
The next part of beauty, in our order, hform. This comprehends the symmetry of the whole,
body, and the exterior turn of every and even the minutest parts, even to that of the eye-brow or
the falling of the hair. It also comprehends the attitude of a person, and the position of each part
of the body, as the turning of his neck, the extending of his arm, the placing of a foot, 8tc. The
chief beaut}' of form arises from proportion, or an union or harmony between the body and all
its different parts ; for which regard must be had to the sex age and other circumstances of the
figure. The beauty of form in a female consists in delicacy and softness; and in a male in ap-
parent strength or agility. The Venus of Medicis is the finest example of the former (Plate 24.)
and the Hercules, (Plate 28); and the Apollo Belvedere (Plate 26), the best illustrations of the
latter. I cannot pass over this last figure (the Apollo) without reminding the student of that
exquisite beauty observed in this statue, which the Italian artists dignify with the name of II S'o-
vraumano, the superhuman, the transcendent or celestial. It is a form of beauty that appears
somewhat more than human ; and carries with it, if we may be allowed the expression, an air of
divinity. This very excellent quality is extremely rare,even in the works of the best artists. Even
the poets, notwithstanding their great latitude of description and powers of imagery, have seldom
discovered it, except Homer and Virgil among the ancients, and Shakespeare and Milton among
the
manner round the face. It is this judicious and pleasing intermixture of colours that gives
that beautiful bloom and pleasing look to the face, which so powerful!)' attract the eyes and en-
gage the heart.
With regard to the general ground of complexion, artists are pretty universally agreed that a
complete brown beauty is preferable to a perfect fair one; the bright brown giving a lustre to all the
other colours, a vivacity to the eyes, and a certain mellow richness to the whole look, which is not
to be found in the whitest and most transparent skins. The charming Madonna de la Sedia of
Raphael is a brunette beauty ; but his earlier Madonnas, or those of his middle style, are gene-
rally of a lighter and less pleasing complexion. About the Pontificate of Leo X., when paint-
ing in Italy was at its zenith, the best artists used a deeper and richer kind of colouring than in
after times : but Guido no sooner introduced his glaring lights than the art began to decline :
and Carlo Maratti degenerated still farther, and by more enfeebling the colours laid the found-
ation of a practice which, his followers still adhering to, injured this noble art in Italy. There
are some other effects of colour not generally noticed under this head, though they no doubt are,
in a great measure, if not wholly, the production of tints: these are, that apparent softness or
siikiness of some skins ; that penitent look in some faces after weeping, which appears in the
Magdalens of the best painters where, though there be no tears, by the humid redness of the skin,
it may be discovered that she had been weeping. A strong instance of this may be seen in a
Magdalen of Le Brun, in one of the churches of Paris. Titian produced several excellent ones,
the best of which is at the Barbarigo palace at Venice; of which Rosalba said that " it wept all
over." To these may be added that brightness as well as tint of the hair, of which so much has
been said, and so many directions given by artists; that lustre commonly called the bloom of
health that, as it were, shines forth through the features; that luminousness that appeal's in some
eyes, and that glistening or fluid fire in others. All these properly come under the head of co-
lour, to which they are principally though perhaps not intirely indebted for their existence ; thus
it may be seen that this, though the lowest part of beauty, is by no means inconsiderable, nor
beneath the artist's attention, as it gives birth to so many pleasing properties.
The next part of beauty, in our order, hform. This comprehends the symmetry of the whole,
body, and the exterior turn of every and even the minutest parts, even to that of the eye-brow or
the falling of the hair. It also comprehends the attitude of a person, and the position of each part
of the body, as the turning of his neck, the extending of his arm, the placing of a foot, 8tc. The
chief beaut}' of form arises from proportion, or an union or harmony between the body and all
its different parts ; for which regard must be had to the sex age and other circumstances of the
figure. The beauty of form in a female consists in delicacy and softness; and in a male in ap-
parent strength or agility. The Venus of Medicis is the finest example of the former (Plate 24.)
and the Hercules, (Plate 28); and the Apollo Belvedere (Plate 26), the best illustrations of the
latter. I cannot pass over this last figure (the Apollo) without reminding the student of that
exquisite beauty observed in this statue, which the Italian artists dignify with the name of II S'o-
vraumano, the superhuman, the transcendent or celestial. It is a form of beauty that appears
somewhat more than human ; and carries with it, if we may be allowed the expression, an air of
divinity. This very excellent quality is extremely rare,even in the works of the best artists. Even
the poets, notwithstanding their great latitude of description and powers of imagery, have seldom
discovered it, except Homer and Virgil among the ancients, and Shakespeare and Milton among
the