The Geometric Beauty Of The Human Figure Defined

First edition (1851) and the rarest of Hay's books. The Scot David Ramsay Hay (1798-1866) is best known through his many books on colour theory. He was a successful house decorator, counting Sir Walter Scott and Queen Victoria amongst his clients. Here he tackles with much gusto and energy the age old problem of proportion. His system of proportion is based upon the harmonic ratios of the diatonic scale: 'the eye is influenced, in its estimations of spaces, by a simplicity of proportions similar to that which guides the ear in its appreciation of sounds'. 'The basis of the present theory, therefore, simply is, that a figure is pleasing to the eye in the same degree as its fundamental angles bear to each other the same proportions that the vibrations bear to one another in the common chord of music'. The plates are 'representing geometric constructions and illustrations of the male and female skeletons, and muscle manikins, with the lines of proportion, after Hay's system. They are all drawn by the author and beautifully engraved by W. Forrest.