between an Englishman and a Scotchman is this—‘Give an Englishman two
facts, and he looks out for a third; give a Scotchman two facts, and he
looks out for a theory.’ Neither of these tests distinguishes the German;
he is as likely to seek for a third fact as for a theory, and as likely
to build a theory on two facts as to look abroad for further information.
But once let him have a theory in his mind, and he will ransack heaven
and earth until he almost buries it under the weight of accumulated
facts. This remark applies with more than common force to a treatise
published last year by Dr Zeising, a professor in Leipsic, ‘On a law of
proportion which rules all nature.’ The ingenious author, after proving
from the writings of ancient and modern philosophers that there always
existed the belief (whence derived it is difficult to say), that some
law does bind into one formula all the visible works of God, proceeds to
criticise the opinions of individual writers respecting that connecting
law. It is not our purpose to follow him through his lengthy examination.
Suffice it to say that he believes he has found the lost treasure in the
_Timæus_ of Plato, c. 31. The passage is confessedly an obscure one, and
will not bear a literal translation. The interpretation which Dr Zeising
puts on it is certainly a little strained, but we are disposed to admit
that he does it with considerable reason. Agreeably to him, the passage
runs thus:—‘That bond is the most beautiful which binds the things as
much as possible into one; and proportion effects this most perfectly
when three things are so united that the greater bears to the middle the
same ratio that the middle bears to the less.’
“We must do Dr Zeising the justice to say that he has not made more
than a legitimate use of the materials which were presented to him in
the writings of the ancients, in his endeavour to establish the fact
of the existence of this law amongst them. The canon of Polycletes,
the tradition of Varro mentioned by Pliny relative to that canon, the
writings of Galen and others, are all brought to bear on the same point
with more or less force. The sum of this portion of the argument is
fairly this,—that the ancient sculptors had _some_ law of proportion—some
authorised examplar to which they referred as their work proceeded. That
it was the law here attributed to Plato is by no means made out; but,
considering the incidental manner in which that law is referred to, and
the obscurity of the passages as they exist, it is, perhaps, too much to
expect more than this broad feature of coincidence—the fact that some
law was known and appealed to. Dr Zeising now proceeds to examine modern
theories, and it is fair to state that he appears generally to take a
very just view of them.
“Let us now turn to Dr Zeising’s own theory. It is this—that in every
beautiful form lines are divided in extreme and mean ratio; or, that
any line considered as a whole, bears to its larger part the same
proportion that the larger bears to the smaller—thus, a line of 5
inches will be divided into parts which are very nearly 2 and 3 inches
respectively (1·9 and 3·1 inches). This is a well-known division of a
line, and has been called the GOLDEN rule, but when or why, it is not
easy to ascertain. With this rule in his hand, Dr Zeising proceeds to
examine all nature and art; nay, he even ventures beyond the threshold
of nature to scan Deity. We will not follow him so far. Let us turn over
the pages of his carefully illustrated work, and see how he applies his
line. We meet first with the Apollo Belvidere—the golden line divides
him happily. We cannot say the same of the division of a handsome face
which occurs a little further on. Our preconceived notions have made the
face terminate with the chin, and not with the centre of the throat.
It is evident that, with such a rule as this, a little latitude as to
the extreme point of the object to be measured, relieves its inventor
from a world of perplexities. This remark is equally applicable to the
_arm_ which follows, to which the rule appears to apply admirably, yet
we have tried it on sundry plates of arms, both fleshy and bony, without
a shadow of success. Whether the rule was made for the arm or the arm
for the rule, we do not pretend to decide. But let us pass hastily on
to page 284, where the Venus de Medicis and Raphael’s Eve are presented
to us. They bear the application of the line right well. It might,
perhaps, be objected that it is remarkable that the same rule applies
so exactly to the existing position of the figures, such as the Apollo
and the Venus, the one of which is upright, and the other crouching.
But let that pass. We find Dr Zeising next endeavouring to square his
theory with the distances of the planets, with wofully scanty success.
Descending from his lofty position, he spans the earth from corner to
corner, at which occupation we will leave him for a moment, whilst we
offer a suggestion which is equally applicable to poets, painters,
novelists, and theorisers. Never err in excess—defect is the safe side—it
is seldom a fault, often a real merit. Leave something for the student
of your works to do—don’t chew the cud for him. Be assured he will not
omit to pay you for every little thing which you have enabled him to
discover. Poor Professor Zeising! he is far too German to leave any
field of discovery open for his readers. But let us return to him; we
left him on his back, lost for a time in a hopeless attempt to double
Cape Horn. We will be kind to him, as the child is to his man in the
Noah’s ark, and set him on his legs amongst his toys again. He is now in
the vegetable kingdom, amidst oak leaves and sections of the stems of
divers plants. He is in his element once more, and it were ungenerous
not to admit the merit of his endeavours, and the success which now and
then attends it. We will pass over his horses and their riders, together
with that portly personage, the Durham ox, for we have caught a glimpse
of a form familiar to our eyes, the ever-to-be-admired Parthenon. This
is the true test of a theory. Unlike the Durham ox just passed before
us, the Parthenon will stand still to be measured. It has so stood for
twenty centuries, and every one that has scanned its proportions has
pronounced them exquisite. Beauty is not an adaptation to the acquired
taste of a single nation, or the conventionality of a single generation.
It emanates from a deep-rooted principle in nature, and appeals to the
verdict of our whole humanity. We don’t find fault with the Durham ox—his
proportions are probably good, though they be the result of breeding
and cross-breeding; still we are not sure whether, in the march of
agriculture, our grandchildren may not think him a very wretched beast.
But there is no mistake about the Parthenon; as a type of proportion it
stands, has stood, and shall stand. Well, then, let us see how Dr Zeising
succeeds with his rule here. Alas! not a single point comes right. The
Parthenon is condemned, or its condemnation condemns the theory. Choose
your part. We choose the latter alternative; and now, our choice being
made, we need proceed no further. But a question or two have presented
themselves as we went along, which demand an answer. It may be asked—How
do you account for the esteem in which this law of the section in
extreme and mean ratio was held? We reply—That it was esteemed just in
the same way that a tree is esteemed for its fruit. To divide a right
angle into two or three, four or six, equal parts was easy enough. But
to divide it into five or ten such parts was a real difficulty. And how
was the difficulty got over? It was effected by means of this golden
rule. This is its great, its ruling application; and if we adopt the
notion that the ancients were possessed with the idea of the existence
of angular symmetry, we shall have no difficulty in accounting for their
appreciation of this problem. Nay, we may even go further, and admit,
with Dr Zeising, the interpretation of the passage of Plato,—only with
this limitation, that Plato, as a geometer, was carried away by the
geometry of æsthetics from the thing itself. It may be asked again—Is it
not probable that _some_ proportionality does exist amongst the parts of
natural objects? We reply—That, _à priori_, we expect some such system
to exist, but that it is inconsistent with the scheme of _least effort_,
which pervades and characterises all natural succession in space or in
time, that that system should be a complicated one. Whatever it is, its
essence must be simplicity. And no system of simple linear proportion
is found in nature; quite the contrary. We are, therefore, driven to
another hypothesis, viz.—that the simplicity is one of angles, not of
lines; that the eye estimates by search round a point, not by ascending
and descending, going to the right and to the left,—a theory which we
conceive all nature conspires to prove. Beauty was not created for the
eye of man, but the eye of man and his mental eye were created for the
appreciation of beauty. Examine the forms of animals and plants so minute
that nothing short of the most recent improvements in the microscope can
succeed in detecting their symmetry; or examine the forms of those little
silicious creations which grew thousands of years before Man was placed
on the earth, and, with forms of marvellous and varied beauty, they all
point to its source in angular symmetry. This is the keystone of formal
beauty, alike in the minutest animalcule, and in the noblest of God’s
works, his own image—Man.”
THE END.
BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Sir David Brewster.
[2] No. CLVIII., October 1843.
[3] Diogenes Laërtius’s “Lives of the Philosophers,” literally
translated. Bohn: London.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Rose’s “Biographical Dictionary.”
[6] Professor Laycock, now of the University of Edinburgh.
[7] “The Geometric Beauty of the Human Figure Defined,” &c.
[8] Longman and Co., London.
[9] See Appendix.
[10] “The Orthographic Beauty of the Parthenon,” &c., and “The Harmonic
Law of Nature applied to Architectural Design.”
[11] For further details, see “Harmonic Law of Nature,” &c.
[12] By a very simple machine, which I have lately invented, an ellipse
of any given proportions, even to those of (¹⁄₆₄), which is the curve of
the entases of the columns of the Parthenon (see Plate VII.), and of any
length, from half an inch to fifty feet or upwards, may be easily and
correctly described; the length and angle of the required ellipse being
all that need be given.
[13] “The Orthographic Beauty of the Parthenon,” &c.
[14] “The Orthographic Beauty of the Parthenon,” &c.
[15] Ibid.
[16] “The Harmonic Law of Nature applied to Architectural Design.”
[17] “Physio-philosophy.” By Dr Oken. Translated by Talk; and published
by the Ray Society. London, 1848.
[18] “The Science of those Proportions by which the Human Head and
Countenance, as represented in Works of ancient Greek Art, are
distinguished from those of ordinary Nature.”
[19] “The Geometric Beauty of the Human Figure Defined,” &c., and “The
Natural Principles of Beauty Developed in the Human Figure.”
[20] “The Geometric Beauty of the Human Figure Defined,” &c.
[21] “Essay on Ornamental Design,” &c., and “The Geometric Beauty of the
Human Figure,” &c.
[22] “A Nomenclature of Colours, applicable to the Arts and Natural
Sciences,” &c., &c.
[23] See pp. 24 and 25.
[24] “The Principles of Beauty in Colouring Systematised,” Fourteen
Diagrams, each containing Six Colours and Hues.
“A Nomenclature of Colours,” &c., Forty Diagrams, each containing Twelve
Examples of Colours, Hues, Tints, and Shades.
“The Laws of Harmonious Colouring,” &c., One Diagram, containing Eighteen
Colours and Hues.
[25] “Etchings Representing the Best Examples of Grecian and Roman
Architectural Ornament, drawn from the Originals,” &c. By Charles
Heathcote Tatham, Architect. London: Priestly and Weale. 1826.
[26] “The Orthographic Beauty of the Parthenon,” &c.
[27] “Science of those Proportions,” &c.
[28] Abbé Barthélémie’s “Travels of Anacharsis in Greece,” vol iv., pp.
193, 195.
[29] Abbé Barthélémie (vol. ii., pp. 168, 169), who cites as his
authorities, Cicer. De Nat. Deor., lib. i., cap. ii., t. 2, p. 405;
Justin Mart., Ovat. ad Gent., p. 10; Aristot. Metaph., lib. i., cap. v.,
t. 2, p. 845.
[30] Müller’s “Ancient Art and its Remains.”
[31] “Anacharsis’ Travels in Greece.” By the Abbé Barthélémie, vol. ii.,
p. 325.
[32] “Anacharsis’ Travels in Greece.” By the Abbé Barthélémie, vol. vi.,
p. 225. The authorities the Abbé quotes are—Quintil., lib. xii., cap. x.,
p. 744; Plin., lib. xxxv., cap. ix., p. 691.
[33] Müller’s “Archæology of Art,” &c.
Works by the Same Author.
I.
In royal 8vo, with Copperplate Illustrations, price 2s. 6d.,
THE HARMONIC LAW OF NATURE APPLIED TO ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.
_From the Athenæum._
The beauty of the theory is its universality, and its simplicity. In
nature, the Creator accomplished his purposes by the simplest means—the
harmony of nature is indestructible and self-restoring. Mr Hay’s book on
the “Parthenon,” on the “Natural Principles of Beauty as developed in the
Human Figure,” his “Principles of Symmetrical Beauty,” his “Principles of
Colouring, and Nomenclature of Colours,” his “Science of Proportion,” and
“Essay on Ornamental Design,” we have already noticed with praise as the
results of philosophical and original thought.
_From the Daily News._
This essay is a new application to Lincoln cathedral in Gothic
architecture, and to the Temple of Theseus in Greek architecture, of the
principles of symmetrical beauty already so profusely illustrated and
demonstrated by Mr Hay. The theory which Mr Hay has propounded in so many
volumes is not only a splendid contribution towards a science of æsthetic
proportions, but, for the first time in the history of art, proves the
possibility, and lays the foundations of such a science. To those who are
not acquainted with the facts, these expressions will sound hyperbolical,
but they are most true.
II.
In royal 8vo, with Copperplate Illustrations, price 5s.,
THE NATURAL PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY, AS DEVELOPED IN THE HUMAN FIGURE.
_From the Spectator._
We cannot refuse to entertain Mr Hay’s system as of singular intrinsic
excellence. The simplicity of his law and its generality impress
themselves more deeply on the conviction with each time of enforcement.
His theory proceeds from the idea, that in nature every thing is effected
by means more simple than any other that could have been conceived,—an
idea certainly consistent with whatever we can trace out or imagine of
the all-wise framing of the universe.
_From the Sun._
By founding (if we may so phrase it) this noble theory, Mr Hay has
covered his name with distinction, and has laid the basis, we conceive,
of no ephemeral reputation. By illustrating it anew, through the
medium of this graceful treatise, he has conferred a real boon upon
the community, for he has afforded the public another opportunity of
following the golden rule of the poet—by looking through the holy and
awful mystery of creation to the holier and yet more awful mystery of
Omnipotence.
_From the Cambridge Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology._
The inquiries which of late years have been instituted by Mr D. R. Hay
of Edinburgh, on the proportions of the human figure, and on the natural
principles of beauty, as illustrated by works of Greek art, constitute an
epoch in the study of æsthetics and the philosophy of form.
III.
In royal 8vo, with Copperplate Illustrations, price 5s.,
THE ORTHOGRAPHIC BEAUTY OF THE PARTHENON REFERRED TO A LAW OF NATURE.
To which are prefixed, a few Observations on the Importance of Æsthetic
Science as an Element in Architectural Education.
_From the Scottish Literary Gazette._
We think this work will satisfy every impartial mind that Mr Hay has
developed the true theory of the Parthenon—that he has, in fact, to use
a kindred phraseology, both _parsed_ and _scanned_ this exquisitely
beautiful piece of architectural composition, and that, in doing so, he
has provided the true key by which the treasures of Greek art may be
further unlocked, and rendered the means of correcting, improving, and
elevating modern practice.
_From the Edinburgh Guardian._
Again and again the attempt has been made to detect harmonic ratios in
the measurement of Athenian architecture, but ever without reward. Mr Hay
has, however, made the discovery, and to an extent of which no one had
previously dreamt.
IV.
In 8vo, 100 Plates, price 6s.,
FIRST PRINCIPLES OF SYMMETRICAL BEAUTY.
_From the Spectator._
This is a grammar of pure form, in which the elements of symmetrical, as
distinguished from picturesque beauty, are demonstrated, by reducing the
outlines or planes of curvilinear and rectilinear forms to their origin
in the principles of geometrical proportion. In thus analysing symmetry
of outline in natural and artificial objects, Mr Hay determines the fixed
principles of beauty in positive shape, and shews how beautiful forms may
be reproduced and infinitely varied with mathematical precision. Hitherto
the originating and copying of beautiful forms have been alike empirical;
the production of a new design for a vase or a jug has been a matter of
chance between the eye and the hand; and the copying of a Greek moulding
or ornament, a merely mechanical process. By a series of problems, Mr
Hay places both the invention and imitation of beautiful forms on a sure
basis of science, giving to the fancy of original minds a clue to the
evolving of new and elegant shapes, in which the infinite resources of
nature are made subservient to the uses of art.
The volume is illustrated by one hundred diagrams beautifully executed,
that serve to explain the text, and suggest new ideas of beauty of
contour in common objects. To designers of pottery, hardware, and
architectural ornaments, this work is particularly valuable; but artists
of every kind, and workmen of intelligence, will find it of great utility.
_From the Athenæum._
The volume before us is the seventh of Mr Hay’s works. It is the most
practical and systematic, and likely to be one of the most useful.
It is, in short, a grammar of form, or a spelling-book of beauty.
This is beginning at the right end of the matter; and the necessity
for this kind of knowledge will inevitably, though gradually, be
felt. The work will, therefore, be ultimately appreciated and
adopted as an introduction to the study of beautiful forms.
The third part of the work treats of the Greek oval or composite ellipse,
as Mr Hay calls it. It is an ellipse of three foci, and gives practical
forms for vases and architectural mouldings, which are curious to the
architect, and will be very useful both to the potter, the moulder,
and the pattern-drawer. A fourth part contains applications of this to
practice. Of the details worked out with so much judgment and ingenuity
by Mr Hay, we should in vain attempt to communicate just notions without
the engravings of which his book is full. We must, therefore, refer to
the work itself. The forms there given are full of beauty, and so far
tend to prove the system.
V.
In 8vo, 14 Coloured Diagrams, Second Edition, price 15s.,
THE PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY IN COLOURING SYSTEMATISED.
_From the Spectator._
In this new analysis of the harmonies of colour, Mr Hay has performed the
useful service of tracing to the operation of certain fixed principles
the sources of beauty in particular combinations of hues and tints; so
that artists may, by the aid of this book, produce, with mathematical
certainty, the richest effects, hitherto attainable by genius alone. Mr
Hay has reduced this branch of art to a perfect system, and proved that
an offence against good taste in respect to combinations of colour is, in
effect, a violation of natural laws.
VI.
In 8vo, 228 Examples of Colours, Hues, Tints, and Shades, price 63s.,
A NOMENCLATURE OF COLOURS, APPLICABLE TO THE ARTS AND NATURAL SCIENCES.
_From the Daily News._
In this work Mr Hay has brought a larger amount of practical knowledge
to bear on the subject of colour than any other writer with whom we are
acquainted, and in proportion to this practical knowledge is, as might be
expected, the excellence of his treatise. There is much in this volume
which we would most earnestly recommend to the notice of artists, house
decorators, and, indeed, to all whose business or profession requires a
knowledge of the management of colour. The work is replete with hints
which they might turn to profitable account, and which they will find
nowhere else.
_From the Athenæum._
We have formerly stated the high opinion we entertain of Mr Hay’s
previous exertions for the improvement of decorative art in this country.
We have already awarded him the merit of invention and creation of the
new and the beautiful in form. In his former treatises he furnished a
theory of definite proportions for the creation of the beautiful in form.
In the present work he proposes to supply a scale of definite proportions
for chromatic beauty. For this purpose he sets out very properly with a
precise nomenclature of colour. In this he has constructed a vocabulary
for the artist—an alphabet for the artizan. He has gone further—he
constructs words for three syllables. From this time, it will be possible
to write a letter in Edinburgh about a coloured composition, which shall
be read off in London, Paris, St Petersburg, or Pekin, and shall so
express its nature that it can be reproduced in perfect identity. This Mr
Hay has done, or at least so nearly, as to deserve our thanks on behalf
of art, and artists of all grades, even to the decorative artizan—not one
of whom, be he house-painter, china pattern-drawer, or calico printer,
should be without the simple manual of “words for colours.”
VII.
In post 8vo, with a Coloured Diagram, Sixth Edition, price 7s. 6d.,
THE LAWS OF HARMONIOUS COLOURING ADAPTED TO INTERIOR DECORATIONS.
_From the Atlas._
Every line of this useful book shews that the author has contrived to
intellectualise his subject in a very interesting manner. The principles
of harmony in colour as applied to decorative purposes, are explained and
enforced in a lucid and practical style, and the relations of the various
tints and shades to each other, so as to produce a harmonious result, are
descanted upon most satisfactorily and originally.
_From the Edinburgh Review._
In so far as we know, Mr Hay is the first and only modern artist who
has entered upon the study of these subjects without the trammels of
prejudice and authority. Setting aside the ordinances of fashion, as
well as the dicta of speculation, he has sought the foundation of
his profession in the properties of light, and in the laws of visual
sensation, by which these properties are recognised and modified. The
truths to which he has appealed are fundamental and irrefragable.
_From the Athenæum._
We have regarded, and do still regard, the production of Mr Hay’s works
as a remarkable psychological phenomenon—one which is instructive both
for the philosopher and the critic to study with care and interest, not
unmingled with respect. We see how his mind has been gradually guided
by Nature herself out of one track, and into another, and ever and anon
leading him to some vein of the beautiful and true, hitherto unworked.
VIII.
In 4to, 25 Plates, price 36s.,
ON THE SCIENCE OF THOSE PROPORTIONS BY WHICH THE HUMAN HEAD AND
COUNTENANCE, AS REPRESENTED IN ANCIENT GREEK ART, ARE DISTINGUISHED FROM
THOSE OF ORDINARY NATURE.
(PRINTED BY PERMISSION.)
_From a Letter to the Author by Sir William Hamilton, Bart., Professor of
Logic and Metaphysics in the Edinburgh University._
Your very elegant volume, “Science of those Proportions,” &c., is to me
extremely interesting, as affording an able contribution to what is the
ancient, and, I conceive, the true theory of the beautiful. But though
your doctrine coincides with the one prevalent through all antiquity, it
appears to me quite independent and original in you; and I esteem it the
more that it stands opposed to the hundred one-sided and exclusive views
prevalent in modern times.
_From Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal._