Principes De Beauté, Considerés Rélativement À La Tête Humaine
Imprint
London:: Printed by James Dixwell, No. 148, in St. Martin's Lane, near Charing Cross., M.DCC.LXXVIII.
Physical Description
[6], 15, [5], 15, [1] p., 2, [1-]17 pl. 559 mm. (Broadsheet).
Contents
[T.p., dedic.] - List Of Subscribers - [Text:] Principles Of Beauty, Relative To The Human Head, &c. &c. &c.; Collection Of The Principal Variations of the Human Features; Tables Of Various Combinations of the Features - [T.p., dedic. and text in French] - [Plates].
Responsibility Note
All plates are signed as designed by A. Cozens and engraved by F. Bartolozzi.
Each carries the publisher's imprint of Alexr. Cozens and the date, except pl. [1].
The work is dedicated by the author to the King (George III).
References
ESTC, T10183
K. Sloan, Alexander and John Robert Cozens: the poetry of landscape (1986) The art of Alexander and John Robert Cozens [exhibition catalogue] (New Haven, 1980)
M. Hardie, Watercolour painting in Britain, I (1966).
A.P. Oppe, Alexander and John Robert Cozens (1952).
Summary Note
The publication-date of 1778 appears on the English title-page; that of 1777 on the French one. The date of April 10 1777 appears on all plates, except pl. 14, which is dated March 10 1777, and pl. [1], which is undated.
The French title reads, Principes De Beauté, Considerés Rélativement À La Tête Humaine.
Cozens states that here he will 'endeavour to shew by what means simple beauty of the human face (that is, a beautiful face unmixed with character) may be formed; as also that of compound beauty, which is, beauty to which some character is annexed'.
His plates show: 1. [various foreheads, noses, lips]; 2. [various chins, eyes]; [1]. Simple Beauty; 2. The Majestic; 3. The Sensible, or wise; 4. The Steady; 5. The Spirited; 6. The Haughty; 7. The Melancholy; 8. The Tender; 9. The Modest; 10. The Languid, or delicate; 11. The Penetrating; 12. The Engaging; 13. The Good natured; 14. The Timid; 15. The Chearful; 16. The The Artful; 17. The Innocent. The plates are interleaved with transparent sheets on which are printed various hair-styles.
The Principles shows familiarity with the ideas of Winckelmann, Hogarth, Hutcheson and Reynolds, and a penchant for systematisation - in 1781 Beckford would describe Cozens as 'very happy, very solitary, and almost as full of systems as the universe'. The book attracted subscriptions from the royal family, the nobility and several artists; in 1778 the Royal Academy exhibition included Cozens's 'Drawing of a head in chalk' and in 1783 Thomas Banks's 'Head of a majestic beauty, composed on Mr Cozens's principles'.
Cozens was more admired for his romantic landscapes. He taught drawing by methods which included his celebrated use of ink-blots (Essay to facilitate the inventing of landskips, 1759), and exhibited with the Society of Arts, the Free Society of Artists and Royal Academy (1772, 1773, 1775, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1781). In 1778 and 1779 he applied to become an Associate of the Royal Academy, but was not successful. He followed the publication of Principles Of Beauty with his best-known book, A New Method Of Assisting The Invention In Drawing Original Compositions Of Landscape (1786).
Reproductions
An electronic reproduction was published in 2003 (Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale). A microfilm version was published in 1986 (Woodbridge CT: Research Publications).
Provenance
The front endpaper is inscribed in ink, 'To the British Royal Academy of Painting; most respectfully presented by the Author'. Receipt of the book was acknowledged at an RA Council meeting in April 1778 (Council Minutes I, 259).
Copy Note
There are slight manuscript emendations in ink on pages 14 and 15 of both the English and French texts.
Binding Note
18th-century calf, upper and lower covers with gilt borders; rebacked in 20th century, green morocco spine-label lettered 'Principles Of Beauty'.
Subject
Beauty - Theory - Heads (representations) - History
Treatises - Manuals - Pattern drawings - Pattern books - Great Britain - 18th century
Pictorial works - Great Britain - 18th century