THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY.
"Hominum divûmque voluptas, alma Venus."
Of this, the most perfect models have been created by Grecian art. Few, we
are told, were the living beauties, from whom such ideal model could be
framed. The difficulty of finding these among the women of Greece, must
have been considerable, when Praxiteles and Apelles were obliged to have
recourse, in a greater or less degree, to the same person, for the
beauties of the Venus of Cnidos, executed in white marble, and the Venus
of Cos, painted in colors. It is asserted by Athenæeus, that both these
productions were, in some measure, taken from Phryne of Thespia, in
Boeotia, then a courtesan at Athens.
Both productions are said to have represented Phryne coming out of the
sea, on the beach of Sciron, in the Saronic gulf, between Athens and
Eleusis, where she was wont to bathe.
It is said, that there, at the feast of Neptune, Phryne, in the presence
of the people of Eleusis, having cast aside her dress, and allowing her
long hair to fall over her shoulders, plunged into the sea, and sported
long amid its waves. An immense number of spectators covered the shore;
and when she came out of it, all exclaimed, "It is Venus who rises from
the waters!" The people would actually have taken her for the goddess, if
she had not been well known to them.
Apelles and Praxiteles, we are told, were both upon the shore; and both
resolved to represent the birth of Venus according to the beautiful model
which they had just beheld.
Such is said to have been the origin of two of the greatest works of
antiquity. The work of Apelles, known under the name of Venus Anadyomene,
was placed by Cesar in the temple of Venus Genitrix, after the conquest of
Greece. An idea of the sculpture of Praxiteles is supposed to have been
imperfectly preserved to modern times in the Venus de Medici.
We are farther told, that, after having studied several attitudes, Phryne
fancied to have discovered one more favorable than the rest for displaying
all her perfections; and that both painter and sculptor were obliged to
adopt her favorite posture. From this cause, the Venus of Cnidos, and the
Venus of Cos, were so perfectly alike, that it was impossible to remark
any difference in their features, contour, or more particularly in their
attitude.
The painting of Apelles, it is added, was far from exciting so much
enthusiasm among the Greeks, as the sculpture of Praxiteles. They fancied
that the marble moved; that it seemed to speak; and their illusion, says
Lucian, was so great, that they ended by applying their lips to those of
the goddess.[49]
"Praxiteles," says Flaxman, "excelled in the highest graces of youth and
beauty. He is said to have excelled not only other sculptors, but himself,
by his marble statues in the Ceramicus of Athens; but his Venus was
preferable to all others in the world, and many sailed to Cnidos for the
purpose of seeing it. This sculptor having made two statues of Venus, one
with drapery, the other without, the Coans preferred the clothed figure,
on account of its severe modesty, the same price being set upon each. The
citizens of Cnidos took the rejected statue, and afterward refused it to
King Nicomedes, who would have forgiven them an immense debt in return;
but they were resolved to suffer anything so long as this statue by
Praxiteles ennobled Cnidos.... This figure is known by the descriptions of
Lucian and Cedrenus, and it is represented on a medal of Caracalla and
Plautilla, in the imperial cabinet of France. This Venus was still in
Cnidos during the reign of the emperor Alcadius, about four hundred years
after Christ. This statue seems to offer the first idea of the Venus de
Medici, which is likely to be the repetition of another Venus, the work of
this artist." He elsewhere says of the Venus of Praxiteles, it was "the
most admired female statue of all antiquity, whose beauty is as perfect as
it is elevated, and as innocent as perfect; from which the Medicean Venus
seems but a deteriorated variety."
Flaxman states that he himself had seen, in the stables of the Braschi
palace, a statue which he supposed might be the original work of
Praxiteles. Strange to tell, nothing is now known of its fate! A supposed
cast from this, or from a copy of it, conforming to the figure on the
model of Caracalla, is to be seen at the Royal Academy.
Of the VENUS DE MEDICI, Flaxman says, it "was so much a favorite of the
Greeks and Romans, that a hundred ancient repetitions of this statue have
been noticed by travellers. The individual figure is said to have been
found in the forum of Octavia. The style of sculpture seems to have been
later than Alexander the Great.
Let us now briefly examine this Model of Female Beauty.
The Venus de Medici represents woman at that age when every beauty has
just been perfected. "The Venus de Medici at Florence," says Winckelmann,
"is like a rose which, after a beautiful daybreak, expands its leaves to
the first ray of the sun, and represents that age when the limbs assume a
more finished form and the breast begins to develop itself."
The size of the head is sufficiently small to leave that predominance to
the vital organs in the chest, which, as already said, makes the nutritive
system peculiarly that of woman. This is the first and most striking proof
of the profound knowledge of the artist, the principles of whose art
taught him that the vast head, on the contrary, was the characteristic of
a very different female personage.[50]--In mentioning the head, it is
scarcely possible to avoid noticing the rich curls of the hair.
The eyes next fix our attention by their soft, sweet, and glad expression.
This is produced with exquisite art. To give softness, the ridges of the
eyebrows are rounded. To give sweetness, the under eyelid, which I would
call the expressive one, is slightly raised. "The eyes of Venus," says
Winckelmann, "are smaller, and the slight elevation of the lower eyelid
produces that languishing look called by the Greeks [Greek: hygron]." To
give the expression of gladness or of pleasure, the opening of the eyelids
is diminished, in order to diminish, or partially to exclude, the excess
of those impressions, which make even pleasure painful. Other exquisite
details about those eyes, confer on them unparalleled beauty. Still, as
observed by the same writer, this look is far from those traits
indicative of lasciviousness, with which some modern artists have thought
to characterize their Venuses. Love was considered by the ancient masters,
as by the wise philosophers of those times, to use the expression of
Euripides, as the counsellor of wisdom: [Greek: tê sophia paredrous
erôtas]. One thing must be observed: there is not here, as in some less
happy representations of Venus, any downcast look, but that aspect of
which Metastasio, in his Inno a Venere, says:
"Tu colle lucide
Pupille chiare,
Fai lieta e fertile
La terra e'l mare."
And again:
"Presto à tuoi placidi
Astri ridenti,
Le nubi fuggono,
Fuggono i venti."[51]
Art still profounder was perhaps shown in the configuration of the nose.
The peculiar connexion of this sense with love was evidently well
understood by the great artist; and it is only gross ignorance that has
made some persons question the appropriateness of that development of the
organ which is here represented. Not only is smell peculiarly associated
with love, in all the higher animals, but it is associated with
reproduction in plants, the majority of which evolve delicious odors only
when the flowers or organs of fructification are displayed.[52]--Connected,
indeed, with the capacity of the nose, and the cavities which open into
it, is the projection of the whole middle part of the face.
In the mouth, also, is transcendent art displayed. It is rendered sweet
and delicate by the lips being undeveloped at their angles,[53] and by the
upper lip continuing so, for a considerable portion of its length. It
expresses love of pleasure by the central development of both lips, and
active love by the especial development of the lower lip.[54] By the
slight opening of the lips, it expresses desire.[55]
These exquisite details, and the omission of nothing intellectually
expressive that nature presents, have led some to imagine the Venus de
Medici to be a portrait. In doing so, however, they see not the profound
calculation required for nearly every feature thus imbodied. More
strangely still, they forget the ideal character of the whole: the notion
of this ideal head being too small, is especially opposed to such an
opinion. If more is wanting, it will surely be enough that the other works
which we are supposed to possess of Praxiteles, the Faun and the Cupid,
present similar fine details.[56]
Withal, the look is amorous and languishing, without being lascivious, and
is as powerfully marked by gay coquetry, as by charming innocence.
The young neck is exquisitely formed. Its beautiful curves show a thousand
capabilities of motion; and its admirably-calculated swell over the organ
of voice, results from, and marks, the struggling expression of still
mysterious love.
In short, I know no antique figure that displays such profound knowledge,
both physiological and physiognomical, even in the most minute details;
and all who are capable of appreciating these things, may well smile at
those who pretend to compare with this any other head of Venus now known
to us.
"With regard to the rest of the figure, the admirable form of the mammæ,
which, without being too large, occupy the bosom, rise from it with
various curves on every side, and all terminate in their apices, leaving
the inferior part in each precisely as pendent as gravity demands; the
flexile waist gently tapering little farther than the middle of the trunk;
the lower portion of it beginning gradually to swell out higher even than
the umbilicus; the gradual expansion of the haunches, those expressive
characteristics of the female, indicating at once her fitness for the
office of generation and that of parturition--expansions which increase
till they reach their greatest extent at the superior part of the thighs;
the fulness behind their upper part, and on each side of the lower part of
the spine, commencing as high as the waist, and terminating in the still
greater swell of the distinctly-separated hips; the flat expanse between
these, and immediately over the fissure of the hips, relieved by a
considerable dimple on each side, and caused by the elevation of all the
surrounding parts; the fine swell of the broad abdomen which, soon
reaching its greatest height, immediately under the umbilicus, slopes
gently to the mons veneris, but, narrow at its upper part, expands more
widely as it descends, while, throughout, it is laterally distinguished by
a gentle depression from the more muscular parts on the sides of the
pelvis; the beautiful elevation of the mons veneris; the contiguous
elevation of the thighs which, almost at their commencement, rise as high
as it does; the admirable expansion of these bodies inward, or toward each
other, by which they almost seem to intrude upon each other, and to
exclude each from its respective place; the general narrowness of the
upper, and the unembraceable expansion of the lower part thus exquisitely
formed;--all these admirable characteristics of female form, the mere
existence of which in woman must, one is tempted to imagine, be, even to
herself, a source of ineffable pleasure--these constitute a being worthy,
as the personification of beauty, of occupying the temples of Greece;
present an object finer, alas! than nature seems even capable of
producing; and offer to all nations and ages a theme of admiration and
delight.
Well might Thomson say:--
"So stands the statue that enchants the world,
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece."
And Byron, in yet higher strain:--
"There, too, the goddess loves in stone, and fills
The air around with beauty;
within the pale
We stand, and in that form and face behold
What Mind can make, when Nature's self would fail;
And to the fond idolaters of old
Envy the innate flash which such a soul could mould:
We gaze and turn away, and know not where,
Dazzled and drunk with beauty, till the heart
Reels with its fulness; there--for ever there--
Chained to the chariot of triumphal Art,
We stand as captives, and would not depart."
PROPORTIONS OF THE VENUS DE MEDICI.
Has seven heads, seven parts, and three minutes in height.
From the top of the head to the root of the hair, three parts.
From the root of the hair to the eyebrows, three parts.
From the eyebrows to the bottom of the nose, three parts.
From the bottom of the nose, to that of the chin, three parts.
From the bottom of the chin to the depression between the clavicles,
four parts, three minutes and a half.
From the depression between the clavicles to the lowest part of the
breast, ten parts, five minutes.
From the lowest part of the breast to the middle of the navel, eight
parts, three minutes.
From the middle of the navel to the base of the belly and beginning
of the thighs, eleven parts, four minutes and a half.
From the bottom of the belly to the middle of the kneepan, eighteen
parts, two minutes.
From the middle of the kneepan to the beginning of the flank,
twenty-seven parts, three minutes.
From the middle of the kneepan to the ground, twenty-five parts,
three minutes.
The greatest height of the foot, three parts, five minutes and a
half.
From the neck of the leg to the end of the toes, nine parts and half
a minute.
From the commencement of the humerus to the elbow, twenty parts, two
minutes.
From the elbow to the beginning of the hand, fourteen parts.
The greatest breadth of the forearm, five parts.
The greatest breadth of the arm, four parts, five minutes.
From the depression between the clavicles to the beginning of the
deltoid, six parts, four minutes.
From the depression between the clavicles to the point of the nipple,
ten parts and half a minute.
Between the points of the nipples, eleven parts, two minutes.
The breadth of the torso, at the level of the lowest part of the
breast, fifteen parts, four minutes and a half.
The least breadth of the torso, at the commencement of the flanks,
fourteen parts, one minute.
The greatest breadth of the torso, at the bottom of the flanks,
seventeen parts, five minutes.
The breadth from the trochanter of one thigh to that of the other,
nineteen parts, three minutes.
The greatest breadth of the thigh, nine parts, five minutes.
The greatest breadth of the knee, six parts.
The greatest breadth of the calf of the leg, six parts, three minutes
and a half.
The breadth from one ankle to another, four parts.
The least breadth of the foot, three parts, three minutes and a half.
The greatest breadth of the foot, five parts and one minute.
The arms of the Venus de Medici, it should be observed, are of modern
construction, and unworthy of the figure.
The VENUS OF NAPLES is of altogether a different species of beauty.
That figure represents an ample and rather voluptuous matron, in an
attitude of scarcely surpassable grace. The character of the face is
beautiful, in profile especially, and its expression is grave. The mouth
has much of nature about it, resembling greatly in character that feature
as seen in Southern Europe; but its expression, though tender, is
somewhat serious or fretful.
It presents, however, many faults. The head is monstrous. The neck is
equally so, as well as coarse. The forehead, eyes, nose, and cheeks,
present none of the finely-calculated details, which surprise and delight
us in the Venus de Medici. The mammæ are not true.
After these, the androgynous being, called the VENUS OF ARLES, is scarcely
worthy of being mentioned. She derives some grandeur from antique
character and symmetry, and some from her masculine features. The head is
monstrous; the neck horrid; the nose heavy; the mouth contemptuous.
Upon the whole, neither the graceful matron of Naples, nor the manlike
woman of the Louvre, can be brought into competition with the Venus de
Medici.