But how shall we reconcile this with the form of the antique ?
Though this theory may account for the straight line of the ridge
of the nose being more beautiful than that which is concaye or
convex, because it is the central form, it will not explain the peculiarity
of the form of the nose, brow, and eye of the antique, which
never existed in nature. The minute form of the individual features
may be made beautiful upon this principle, but the peculiar form
of the whole remains still to be understood; and thus there is
suggested a higher object of study, than what is to be found in the
mere comparison of individual beauties.
I have endeavoured to place the subject in another view, and to
show that the noble and imposing form of the antique resulted from
a deep and more extensive survey of nature. I conceive the artists
of antiquity to have studied the deformities, as well as the beauties,
of the human countenance; and observing the prevailing lines of a
low and disagreeable countenance, to have traced this effect to an
association with a lower species, and hence to have deduced their
principle of ennobling the form of the head, by increasing those
peculiarities of character, the indication of intellect, and the powers
of expression, which distinguish the human form, and by carefully
reversing those proportions which produce a resemblance to the
physiognomy of brutes. While we seek to discover the superiority
of the antique form in the direction of the lines, the elevation of the
facial line, or even in the proportions of the several parts, without
examining the cause of our ready aquiescence in that as beautiful,
which yet is not natural, or without tracing the association which
affects our judgment, the result of the inquiry must be vague and
unsatisfactory, while the principle which influenced the ancients
is not established. It is evident, that the line of the antique face
cannot be the medium, or central line of the beautiful in nature.
And it is scarcely probable, that the line of the nose and forehead
of the antique should be the prevailing line in a natural head, or
that it should even have resulted from a selection of natural
beauties.
No man has bestowed more labour on the measurement of skulls,
and their comparison with the antique, than Professor Camper, and
in conclusion he says, “ If it be now asked what is meant by a fine
countenance, we may answer; that in which the facial line makes
an angle of 100 degrees with the horizon. The ancient Greeks
have consequently chosen this angle.” I say rather, that it is that
in which the human character is not only preserved but increased,
where the superior intellect of man is exhibited in the form, and
where the power of expressing human feelings is bestowed in a
high degree. It consists not in a line, but in the general proportions,
being entirely and appropriately those of man: and this
shown not in the head alone, but in the single parts or features;
all possessing the appropriate human form and character. There
is no satisfactory conclusion in saying, that a head is beautiful,
because it is four noses in length; or a face, because the eyes are