Plato’s Theory of Essential Beauty
Plato's writings on beauty are based on his doctrine of ideas. He
explained that what we know from everyday experience is not knowledge
but only belief or assumption (Gk. doxa) and we should try to find behind
it the permanent real knowledge (Gk. episteme) which consists of "ideas".
One of the ideas is "beauty" (Gk. to kalon), or the permanent property
which belongs to all beautiful objects. This property remains the same
irrespective of whether somebody admires the object or not.
"That which is apprehended by intelligence and reason is always in the
same state; but that which is conceived by opinion with the help of
sensation and without reason, is always in a process of becoming and
perishing and never really is." (Plato: Timaeus, trans. Benjamin Jowett).
"That which is always the same" or the constant essence of beauty might
consist of e.g. proportions of the dimensions. This idea is attributed to
Pythagoras (ca. 532 BC) who is said to have discovered the fact that
certain arithmetical proportions in musical instruments, e.g. the lengths
of strings, produce harmony of tones (on the right, an illustration from
Gafurio's Theorica Musice, 1492). On the basis of these musical
harmonies the Greek tried to explain also the beauty in the proportions
of the human body, of architecture and other objects.
Vitruve (I:III:2) said that a building is beautiful when the appearance of
the work is pleasing and in good taste, and when its members are in due
proportion according to correct principles of "symmetry" (where
"symmetry" means "a proper agreement between the members of the
work itself, and relation between the different parts and the whole
general scheme, in accordance with a certain part selected as standard. -The definition of symmetry is found in I:II:4).
During the Middle Ages, proportions and the ratios of numbers were
considered important attributes of objects, as can be seen in the
"sketchbook" of Villard de Honnecourt, from 13C, an illustration of which
is seen on the left. The document contains no explanation to these
figures.
The renaissance revived again the study of Pythagorean proportions.
On the right, a study of Leonardo, showing the ratios 1:3:1:2:1:2 in the
proportions of the human face.
On the left, sketches by Cesariano where the human proportions are
applied to architecture.
The greatest architect-writer of the Renaissance, Leon Battista Alberti
(1404-72), emphasized the formal attributes of buildings and their
details, proportionality and ornamentation. Beauty (Lat. pulchritudo) is "a
Harmony of all the Parts, in whatsoever Subject it appears, fitted
together with such Proportion and Connection, that nothing could be
added, diminished or altered, but for the Worse" (VI:II). This seems not
say much more than that there must be harmony, proportion and
connection between the parts of the beautiful object. However, on this
foundation Alberti laborated an extensive theory of architectural design
which later also provided a basis for a long series of followers.