Beauty: illustrated by an analysis and classification of beauty in woman : with a critical view of the hypotheses of Hume, Hogarth, Burke, Knight, Alison, etc., and the hypotheses of beauty in sculpture and painting, by Leonardo da Vinci, Winckelmann, Mengs, Bossi, etc / by Alexander Walker.

  • Alexander Walker
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Beauty: illustrated by an analysis and classification of beauty in woman : with a critical view of the hypotheses of Hume, Hogarth, Burke, Knight, Alison, etc., and the hypotheses of beauty in sculpture and painting, by Leonardo da Vinci, Winckelmann, Mengs, Bossi, etc / by Alexander Walker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and to ameliorate the species, which are the objects of this work. Let it not be imagined that the views now taken are less favorable to woman than to man. What- ever ensures the happiness of one ensures that of the other; and as the variety of forms and functions in man requires as many varieties in woman, it is not to exclusion or rejection with regard to woman that this work tends, but to a reasoned guidance in a man’s choice; to the greater suitableness of all intermarriages, and to the greater happiness of woman as well as man, both in herself and in her. progeny. But notwithstanding the importance of any work which is in any degree calculated to promote such an object, some will tell us that decency forbids nudity, and the analysis of female beauty on which it can alone be founded.—I shall, on the contrary, show that decency demands this analysis, that the interests of nature, of truth, of the arts, and of morality demand it. Our present notions of sexual decency belong more to art than to nature, and may be divided into arti- ficial and artful decencies. Artificial decencies are illustrated in the habits of various nations. They have their origin in cold countries, where clothing is necessary, and where a deviation from the degree or mode of clothing con-
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