DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19953#0011
PROPORTION.
9
PROPORTION.
When we consider the variation to which the human
form is subject in different parts of the globe, it seems
difficult, at first, to find the standard in which beauty
consists.
The consent of ages has been given to that established
by the Greeks, and found in those works of that great
people which remain to us.
In them we find all that can realize the idea of beauty
to our minds, the symmetry of the whole, and the fitness
and the adaptation of the parts being that from which
nothing can be taken away, and to which nothing can be
added; this standard seems indeed to be a test of truth
in all matters of Art relating to the beau-ideal of human
form. We have, however, not always to represent the
perfection of form; and it is quite evident that no rule
can be given that will answer to the countless varieties,
national or individual, that come before our daily experi-
ence ; but as all these are departures from the acknowledged
standard, a knowledge of that first obtained would enable
us the more readily to detect them, and see wherein the
difference lies. The short and squat figure of the Lap-
lander, or the tall and muscular figure of the Caffre
or Patagonian, could, by a reference to rule, be satisfac-
torily given on paper, by the number of heads or spaces
the figure was divided into, according to the scale to be
found in this work.
9
PROPORTION.
When we consider the variation to which the human
form is subject in different parts of the globe, it seems
difficult, at first, to find the standard in which beauty
consists.
The consent of ages has been given to that established
by the Greeks, and found in those works of that great
people which remain to us.
In them we find all that can realize the idea of beauty
to our minds, the symmetry of the whole, and the fitness
and the adaptation of the parts being that from which
nothing can be taken away, and to which nothing can be
added; this standard seems indeed to be a test of truth
in all matters of Art relating to the beau-ideal of human
form. We have, however, not always to represent the
perfection of form; and it is quite evident that no rule
can be given that will answer to the countless varieties,
national or individual, that come before our daily experi-
ence ; but as all these are departures from the acknowledged
standard, a knowledge of that first obtained would enable
us the more readily to detect them, and see wherein the
difference lies. The short and squat figure of the Lap-
lander, or the tall and muscular figure of the Caffre
or Patagonian, could, by a reference to rule, be satisfac-
torily given on paper, by the number of heads or spaces
the figure was divided into, according to the scale to be
found in this work.