3?,8 



THE POPULAE EDUCATOR 



Fig. 128 



be used. Some have drawn their figures as low as seven heads, 

 others as high as eight and a-half and nine, and occasionally, 

 even more ; the heroic cannot be less than eight. But certainly, 

 whichever of these units of measurement we may choose, if 

 the one employed represents the head large in proportion to the 

 body, it is not a distinctive mark of beauty ; this defect may 

 be noticed amongst Laplanders, Tartars, and some other 

 nations. Consequently, if we desire to give dignity and beauty 

 to the figure, we must endeavour to avoid littleness of style, 

 which unavoidably belongs to lowness of stature, unless, of 

 course, the character of the subject demands it. The Apollo 

 Belvedere, a celebrated ancient Greek statue, is eight heads and 

 a half high. Rubens, a painter who flourished in the reign of 

 Charles I., occasion- 

 ally drew his figures 

 eight heads high ; 

 but there is gene- 

 rally an appearance 

 of heaviness in most 

 of his figures, which 

 may be partly attri- 

 buted to their being 

 only seven heads 

 high. Michael An- 

 gelo, the Florentine 

 painter and sculptor, 

 who was born in 

 1474, did not restrict 

 himself to any fixed 

 proportion, but 

 would employ that 

 which he deemed the 

 best for his purpose. 

 Eight heads might 

 have been his lowest 

 standard, but Pro- 

 fessor Camper says, 

 " C. Vander Mander 

 has proved that in 

 some of the figures 

 of Michael Angelo, 

 the size is equal to 

 nine, ten, nay twelve 

 heads, in order to 

 communicate more 

 grace to a stooping 

 attitude." It is ge- 

 nerally allowed that 

 eight heads is the 

 better proportion 

 for a figure than 

 one of a less num- 

 ber. Men above six 

 feet high, for the 

 most part, reach 

 that standard, some 

 a little more. The 

 reason of lowness 

 of stature in men 

 is, in most cases, 

 attributable to the 

 shortness of their 



legs; and this leads us to another proportion proper to be 

 observed, namely, that the distance from the top of the head to 

 the pubis should be equal to that from the pubis to the feet ; 

 the face to be one-tenth, and the foot one-sixth of the figure. 

 Therefore, adopting the above standards of proportion, the 

 heights of the figures we draw are determined by the number 

 of the repeated measurements of the head ; two figures may be 

 drawn, each on a separate piece of paper, and although the one 

 may not occupy a larger space than the other, yet it is accord- 

 ing to the size of the head that we decide which is the tall man, 

 and which the short. 



The next consideration connected with this part of our sub- 

 ject relates to the head and face alone, and the proportions of 

 their parts relative to each other ; a knowledge of these is as 

 important as those of the body, but there is a difference in the 

 lise and application which must not be overlooked. No part 



of the whole frame is subject to such a variety of change and 

 expression as the face. We look into it for a reflex of the mind ; 

 it is stronger than the arm in its power of repelling or attract- 

 ing those who seek to approach us ; and the whole state of the 

 mind, whether as friend or foe, is revealed in the countenance. 

 In short, so keen are our detective powers when reading the 

 signs depicted in the human face, that dissimulation must be a 

 practised art before it can be thoroughly successful. The smile 

 of some men is repulsive because it is not genuine, and we see 

 that it is not; there is a raising of the upper lip and exposure of 

 the teeth along with it, which betrays envy or malice. The kind- 

 hearted man can frown only with his brows, and in spite of 

 himself the generous feelings of his heart will linger about 



the corners of the 

 mouth, slightly 

 raised by the swell> 

 ing muscles of the 

 cheeks. Thus, in 

 either case, the cha- 

 racter of the indivi- 

 dual, which is one of 

 the most difficult 

 things to conceal, 

 will show itself ; the 

 most trifling acci- 

 dental circumstance 

 will serve to reveal 

 it, and he will be es- 

 teemed or disliked 

 accordingly. When 

 we reflect that the 

 same features are 

 capable of express- 

 ing opposite pas- 

 sions, such as joy 

 and sorrow, love and 

 hatred, compassion 

 and revenge, we have 

 to make the esta- 

 blished rules of pro- 

 portion subservient 

 to the end sought 

 for. There are occa- 

 sions when these re- 

 ceived regulations 

 must be set aside, 

 when some particu- 

 lar passion or emo- 

 tion is to be ex- 

 pressed. According 

 to the scale of depar- 

 ture from true pro- 

 portion, in like man- 

 ner does the ratio of 

 deformity increase. 

 Deformity in the 

 countenance ought 

 only to be employed 

 to express deformity 

 of mind ; and there- 

 fore, in order to be 

 able to represent the 

 bad passions, the rules of proportion must be learnt, that we 

 may know when and how to break them. 



When animal expression is associated with the human face, 

 it degenerates into caricature, and although there are brutal 

 passions found amongst men, and they are deeply imprinted on 

 their countenances, yet those countenances must be humanised ; 

 for, notwithstanding the similarity of character which exists 

 between the most degraded of mankind and the brute creation, 

 we cannot go so far as to transgress the laws which regulate the 

 human face as a whole, so entirely as to divest it of the higher 

 nature belonging to man, and substitute that of the animal. 

 We select an example from Lavater's "Essays on Physiognomy" 

 to illustrate our observations, " The head of Judaa, after Hol- 

 bein" (Fig. 128). It is the personification of selfishness, deceit, 

 and hypocrisy, combined with other latent and bad qualities 

 that nurture them and contribute to their development. It 



