428 
FLETCHER. 
Greek art. Winckelmann, of wliom Madame de Stael said 
that he made himself pagan for the purpose of penetrating 
antiquity, says: “As it is confessedly the beauty of man 
which is to be conceived under the general idea, so I have 
observed that those who are observant of beauty only in 
women, and are moved little or not at all by the beauty of 
men, seldom have an impartial, vital, inborn instinct for 
beauty in art. To such persons the beauty of Greek art will 
ever seem wanting because its supreme beauty is rather male 
than female.” 
Winckelmann does not enter into the reasons for this 
preference for masculine figures, but the opportunity for 
superior development of the muscles, especially in martial 
or athletic postures, naturally explains it. The beauty of 
goddess or nymph in the marble fills the mind with admira¬ 
tion, but it is of a calm and placid nature. “ Greek sensu¬ 
ousness,” says Pater, “ does not fever the blood. It is shame¬ 
less and childlike.” To the Greek artist external form, in 
motion or in repose, was all the anatom}^ he could acquire 
or need. He found that “ acuteness and fidelity^ of eye and 
obedience of hand brought precision ; precision, proportion; 
proportion, beauty.”* 
How many theories upon the nature of the beautiful have 
been written! From Longinus to Ruskin and Spencer, where 
are now their followers? Who does not feel forced to say 
with Omar Khayyam : 
“I have heard great argument 
About it and about; but evermore 
Came out by the same door where in I went.” 
There are certain qualities which, from the anatomist’s 
point of view, are essential to beauty of form. The skele¬ 
ton, the foundation of the figure, though unseen, must be 
perfect, the long bones arched, and the joints not clumsy. 
The muscular system must be well developed in both sexes. 
Fat in moderation contributes to the roundness of outline, 
though its excess is fatal to ideal beauty. Last of all, the 
* Fuseli. 
