Fifteen Contours of Foreheads

Image credit: Wellcome Collection

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Drawing for a plate facing p.236, vol.II.i, of the first English version of J. C. Lavater's 'Essays on Physiognomy' translated by Henry Hunter, London, 1789–1798. Lavater measures the deviation of the foreheads from the perpendicular. However, ‘nature rejects continued perpendiculars’. The top row of heads are ‘scrutinising heads; anti-poetic’. The second level expresses caprice; the third level ‘compose a medley of every kind of irregularity’. Lavater includes repetitions of these designs in a slightly different context over pp.317–322 of vol.III.ii.

Wellcome Collection

London

Title

Fifteen Contours of Foreheads

Date

c.1789

Medium

pencil on paper (?)

Measurements

H 22 x W 17.9 cm

Accession number

29347i

Acquisition method

presumed to be part of the collection formed by Henry S. Wellcome

Work type

Drawing

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Wellcome Collection

183 Euston Road, London, Greater London NW1 2BE England

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