In other descriptions Boccaccio mentions a flat
(not medievally rounded) brow, a long, earnest, brown eye, and round,
not hollowed neck, as well as--in a very modern tone--the 'little feet'
and the 'two roguish eyes' of a black-haired nymph.
Whether the fifteenth century has left any written account of its ideal
of beauty, I am not able to say. The works of the painters and
sculptors do not render such an account as unnecessary as might appear
at first sight, since possibly, as opposed to their realism, a more
ideal type might have been favored and preserved by the writers. In the
sixteenth century Firenzuola came forward with his remarkable work on
female beauty. We must clearly distinguish in it what he had learned
from old authors or from artists, such as the fixing of proportions
according to the length of the head, and certain abstract conceptions.
What remains is his own genuine observation, illustrated with examples
of women and girls from Prato. As his little work is a kind of lecture,
delivered before the women of this city--that is to say, before very
severe critics--he must have kept pretty closely to the truth. His
principle is avowedly that of Zeuxis and of Lucian--to piece together
an ideal beauty out of a number of beautiful parts. He defines the
shades of color which occur in the hair and skin, and gives to the
'biondo' the preference, as the most beautiful color for the hair,
understanding by it a soft yellow, inclining to brown.
Pages:
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400