Thomas Holloway

The Physiognomy - Skulls - Etching by Thomas Holloway - 1810

1810

Skulls is an etching realized by Thomas Holloway for Johann Caspar Lavater's "Essays on Physiognomy, Designed to Promote the Knowledge and the Love of Mankind", London, Bensley, 1810. Good conditions. Johann Caspar Lavater was a swiss theologian and philosopher known throughout Europe for his studies on physiognomy. Following the physiognomy tradition of Della Porta and of many Renaissance and Baroque philosophers, he believed that the character of a person could be elucidated through examining their “lines of countenance" i.e. tracing a profile outline portrait. Being able to "read outside" was the key to "know the inside". Lavater's thought largely influenced Art in the late 18th and early 19th century, as in the case of Johann Fuseli and William Blake (who realized two etchings for Lavater's English edition of his Essay). Lavater was convinced that he could show his theories by analyzing the portraits of some of the main historical figures of the past, in some cases taken from paintings or (mainly for antiquity...

The Physiognomy - Two Profiles is an original etching artwork realized by Thomas Holloway for Johann Caspar Lavater's "Essays on Physiognomy, Designed to Promote the Knowledge and th...

Early 19th Century Anatomical Engravings of Human Skulls – Comparative Craniology (Set of 2) A rare pair of early 19th-century anatomical engravings documenting comparative craniolo...

18th Century Anatomical Skeleton Study Engraving Academic Figure German Edition c1745 This finely engraved anatomical plate presents two standing skeleton figures shown from frontal...