The human figure; its beauties and defects / Authorised translation revised by the author.

  • Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The human figure; its beauties and defects / Authorised translation revised by the author. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sake it has brought more harm than good. For to this element it is owing that in the incipient decline of Italian art the nobler ideals of female beauty gave way to lower ones, and that at the present day painters and sculptors take so little heed of the defects of their female models. As I have already remarked, a figure, to be beautiful in our sense, must be capable of being displayed to advantage in all positions and under all aspects which present themselves in ideal art. This means, moreover, that in any position occurring in ideal art, and under any aspect, the figure must yield harmonious lines ; for the ordering of the lines of the composition is the point of primary importance in every work of art that claims to be judged by a high standard. The fact that in recent times the feeling for beauty of line has fallen so much into neglect—one might almost venture to affirm that it is only to be found in isolated in- stances—involves a grave reproach to modern art, as compared with that of antiquity and the renaissance. It is the outlines of the features which determine the general impression made by the face, and which stamp it with their own character, rendering it clear or con- fused, noble or ignoble, as the case may be. How else were it possible to produce such effects as we see produced by means of mere outlines, without a trace of shading ? Even in favourable instances no impres- sion of actual bodily presence can equal the trenchant effect brought about by simple lines, not even in Nature herself. This is demonstrated by the familiar
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