One of the most brilliantly perceptive statements I have ever read regarding natural things is from Sir Francis Bacon's essay, "Of Beauty":
"There is no excellent beauty, that hath not some strangeness in the proportion."
Think back through the fascinatingly beautiful faces you have seen in your life. Not just beautiful - fascinatingly beautiful. Not just beauty, but excellent beauty. Bacon was exactly right: in every beautiful face that seems to mesmerize us, there is something that grabs our attention: the eyes just a tad off center, the nose a little too large or too small, some irregularity in the shape of the mouth. Whatever it is, it is a "strangeness in the proportion." It catches the eye, engages the mind. It is the strangeness that creates the excellence.
No comments:
Post a Comment