Physiognomy vs Caricature

A number of thinkers have considered how the face reflects the workings of the mind, and ultimately the soul, and human nature. For many centuries the study of Physiognomy was tied up with astrology. Notions of the relationship between individual appearance and inner character, was present in early Greek culture. By the fourth century, the philosopher Aristotle made frequent reference to Physiognomy.  Aristotle’s considered that a man’s mental nature, as well as his passing emotional state, was revealed by his anatomic form and the play of the muscles. The study of Physiognomy became an integral part of the physiologically based medical practice and those who study physiognomics were “physicians” who tried to interpreted human character and moral tendencies. Analogies were drawn between human expressions (pride, humility, cowardice, bravery) and animals’ facial features. In the ancient Greek world view, the peacock was proud, the hare timorous, the lion brave. Aristotle’s pupil, the moral philosopher Theophrasti (circa 288-286 B.C.) investigated psychological features of different human types. The physician Claudius Galenus or Galen of Pergamon (129-200 A.D.) confirmed in “Quod animi more” (the trouble of soul) based on the ancient temperament and humoral medical theories.

Fig. 1

enlarge image

+

These theories later influenced the following centuries scientists such as the astrologer Scottish Michael Scot (1175-1235) whose book “Liber Physiognomiae” was popular in Medieval Age. Scot attempted to equate the ideal of human beauty with the ethical behavior of the Christian faith. During medieval times, the interest was in the prophetic aspect of the matter rather than in the scientific explanation. In this case physiognomists recognized the face of emotional expression and moral character. An important contribution of this theory of Physiognomy is that a person’s character can be related to the shape of his or her face.

The Neopolitan G. B. Della  Porta (1535-1615) returned to the ancient Greek ideas on the relation between physiognomy and character in his book ‘ De Humana Physiognomonia’ (1586) [Fig. 1]. His work is considered a classic of physiognomy as a benchmark between the sixteenth century culture of magic and the move to more rationalistic thought in the seventeenth century. Della Porta took a zoomorphic approach to correlate human to animals faces in his study  of the temperament.

Fig. 2

enlarge image

+

Fig. 3

enlarge image

+

This was later developed by the Frenchman Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) in his books: ‘Traité des passions’ (1698) and ‘Caractères des passions’ (1790). Based on René Descartes’ (1596-1650) theory of the passions (1649), Le Brun's ‘ Conférence sur l'expression générale et particulière ’ (1668) sought to present a rational and coherent theory of expression. In the Netherlands, Pieter Camper (1722-1789) went on to devise a measure of the facial angle to classify human beings and explored how the human passions can be express by gestures of the body and face.

The German Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801) extended this in ‘Von der Physiognomik’ (1772). The appeal of essentialism for Lavater lay in its capacity to validate a ‘science’ of Man based on a theory of natural kinds. But the problem of essentialism for physiognomy was that it imagined its ‘science’ as the result of an intuitive understanding of the intrinsic properties and purposes of things [Fig 2-3].

Fig. 4

enlarge image

+

In the nineteenth century England, Charles Darwin (1809-1882) continued this tradition in ‘The expression of the emotions in man and animals ’ (1872). However, Darwin viewed this work as a cornerstone of his evolutionary theory — the means of demonstrating once and for all that Man was not a separate and divinely created species but no different from other animals. The result was a study of expression that tried to identify specific mental and emotional states as well as their corresponding expressions (by concentrating on their motor activity), and then map their common descent through groups of related organisms. If this could be done, then human feelings like love, anger, fear, and grief could be treated as physical habits and shown to have clearly recognizable parallels, perhaps even origins, in the animal world [Fig. 4].

The Italian Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909) created the study of ‘Criminal Anthropology’, correlating the physical abnormalities, especially of the cranium, with psychological features based on moral behaviour.

These nineteenth century approaches physiognomy is based on the psychological study of the expression of the Man. By contrast, the caricature provides a moral vision of social life by employing humorist images with exaggerated individual characteristics to ridicule arrogance and power.

References

• Aristotele. Opera. II. Jehan Frellon, 1545
• Burr CW. Personality and physiognomy. Dental Cosmos 77:556-56; 1935
• Camper P. Dissertation physique sur les differences réelles que presentent les traits du visage chez les hommes de différents pays et de differents ages: sur le beau qui caractèrise les statues antiques et les pierres gravées. Suivie de la preposition d’une nouvelle methode pour déssiner toutes sortes la plus grande sureté. Translation by Dutch Denis Bernard Quatremere d’Isjonval. Utrecht, B. Wild et J. Altheer, 1791
• Darwin C. The expression of the emotions in man and animals. London, John Murray, 1872
• Della Porta GB. De Humana Physiognomia. Napoli, Tarquinio Longo, 1602
• Descartes R. Les pâssions de l’me. Amsterdam, Louys Elzevier, 1649
• Galeno C. Delli mezzi per conservarci la sanità. Translation by Giovanni Tarcagnota. Venezia, Michele Tramezzino, 1549
• Hartley L. Physiognomy and the meaning of expression in nineteenth-century culture. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001
• Le Brun C. Conference sur l’expression generale et particulière des passions, enrichie de figures, suivant l’édition d’Amsterdam de l’année 1713. Verona, Augustin Carattoni, 1751
• Lavater K J. Von der Physiognomik. Leipzig, Weidmanns Erben, 1772
• Lombroso C. L’uomo delinquente in rapporto all’Antropologia, Giurisprudenza e alle discipline carcerarie. Torino, Bocca, 1878-1889  
• Scoto M. Liber Physiognomiae. Venezia, Jacopo da Fivizzano, 1477
• Theophrasti. Characteres ethici. Translation and commented by Isaacus Casaubon. Lione, Edition by Ant. De Harsy, Tipography by Guicahrd Jullieron, 1599
• Wechsler J. A human comedy. Physiognomy and caricature in 19 th century Paris. Chicago, Chicago University Press, 1982