The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Physiognomy in Profile: Lavater's Impact on European Culture
Abstract
Johann Caspar Lavater's richly illustrated Physiognomische Fragmente was published in Germany between 1775-78 and was rapidly translated into the major European languages. Presenting his theories on how the configuration of facial features may be held to show qualities of mind or character, Lavater's work triggered a physiognomical frenzy (to quote his adversary Georg Christoph Lichtenberg) in late eighteenth-century Europe, and people are said to have chosen their spouses and servants according to his precepts. Though some dismissed his work as cranky pseudoscience, Lavater's theories had a vital influence on art, literature, medicine, and the emerging social sciences throughout the nineteenth century. Today Lavater is no longer a household name, but his physiognomy continues to resurface in the most unlikely places.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Finger, S., & Eling, P. (2019) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.001.0001 · Cited by 57
Phrenology and the Science of Race in Antebellum America
Branson, S. (2017) · Early American studies · doi:10.1353/eam.2017.0005 · Cited by 42
Genetic Indigenisation in ‘The People of the British Isles’
Fortier, A. (2011) · Science as Culture · doi:10.1080/09505431.2011.586418 · Cited by 26
The reanimation of pseudoscience in machine learning and its ethical repercussions
Andrews, M., Smart, A., & Birhane, A. (2024) · Patterns · doi:10.1016/j.patter.2024.101027 · Cited by 18
“38 The late 19th century Italian physiognomist Casare Lombroso proposed a theory of the ‘‘born criminal type,’’ which could be discerned through analysis of facial structure.”
Face to Face with Johann Caspar Lavater
Erle, S. (2005) · Literature Compass · doi:10.1111/j.1741-4113.2005.00131.x · Cited by 15
Ware, O. (2024) · doi:10.1093/9780197763995.001.0001 · Cited by 13
"The Science of Sciences": Replication and Reproduction in Lavater's Physiognomics
Lyon, J. B. (2007) · Eighteenth-Century Studies · doi:10.1353/ecs.2007.0012 · Cited by 9
Schwab, C. (2017) · History and Anthropology · doi:10.1080/02757206.2017.1375488 · Cited by 8
“…by anatomical and medical science (Percival and Tytler 2005), but it was especially the work of the theologian and philosopher Johann Caspar Lavater (1741–1801) that promoted the impact of physiognomic thought on nineteenth-century arts, literature and social research (Percival and Tytler 2005).”
BackgroundInfluentialAs Above, So Below. Astrology and the Inquisition in Seventeenth-Century New Spain
Avalos, A. (2007) · Cadmus - EUI Research Repository (European University Institute) · doi:10.2870/69590 · Cited by 8
(Re)Considering the Priestess: Clara Schumann, Historiography, and the Visual
Prince, A. L. (2017) · Women & music · doi:10.1353/wam.2017.0007 · Cited by 6
Schwab, C. (2018) · Urban History · doi:10.1017/s0963926818000391 · Cited by 5
Parry‐Giles, S. J., & Kaufer, D. S. (2012) · Rhetoric and Public Affairs · doi:10.2307/41940571 · Cited by 4
Leaving Their Mark: Lavater, Fuseli and Blake's Imprint on Aphorisms on Man
Erle, S. (2006) · Comparative Critical Studies · doi:10.3366/ccs.2006.3.3.347 · Cited by 3
Self-observational life in eighteenth-century Germany
Rydberg, A. (2023) · Intellectual History Review · doi:10.1080/17496977.2022.2154995 · Cited by 2
Envisaging the city: roadmap for an interdisciplinary study of urban facescapes
Leone, M. (2024) · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · doi:10.4337/9781800887220.00020 · Cited by 2
PHYSIOGNOMIC DISCOURSE AND THE TRIALS OF CROSS-CLASS SYMPATHY INMARY BARTON
Harner, C. (2015) · Victorian Literature and Culture · doi:10.1017/s1060150315000224 · Cited by 1
How to Do Things with Surfaces: The Politics and Poetics of Victorian Surfaces
Baumbach, S., & Ratheiser, U. (2021) · Palgrave studies in nineteenth-century writing and culture · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-75397-9_1 · Cited by 1
Sources of the communicative body
Wagner, M. (2010) · doi:10.25439/rmt.27582456
Kamensky, J. (2012) · Reviews in American History · doi:10.1353/rah.2012.0095
Turning Insides Out: An Anatomy of Observation
Lauster, M. (2007) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1057/9780230210974_6
Physiognomic signs in positivism – the case of Dziwadła by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
Kozłowska, A. A. (2016) · Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska sectio FF – Philologiae · doi:10.17951/ff.2016.34.1.25
The Brain and Its Functions Prior to Gall
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0004
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0003
New Perspectives on Insanity and Criminality
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0016
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0020
The Nature of Soul, or Is It Just Nature?
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0005
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0006
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0013
Of Animal Heads and Animal Tales
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0007
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0002
Scientific Journey through Germany and Denmark
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0010
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0009
“Cranioscopy” in the British Press
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0017
The Arts, and Faculties in Concert
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0015
Spurzheim’s “Phrenology” and Gall in Britain
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0018
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0019
A Detour to Holland, Switzerland, and Back to Germany
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0011
Formative Years and Childhood Memories
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0001
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0008
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0012
Constructing and Complicating Physical Wholeness
Sweet, R. (2021) · Palgrave studies in nineteenth-century writing and culture · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-78589-5_2
Texts, Contexts and Intertextuality
(2014) · V&R unipress eBooks · doi:10.14220/9783737002868
Classes, manners, transformations: popular sociology in periodical literature (1830–1850)
Schwab, C. (2022) · Nineteenth Century Contexts · doi:10.1080/08905495.2022.2057149
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.003.0014
Fend, M. (2017) · Manchester University Press eBooks · doi:10.7765/9781526104663.00014
Physiognomic signs in positivism – the case of Dziwadła by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
Kozłowska, A. A. (2016) · Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska sectio FF – Philologiae · doi:10.17951/ff.2016.34.25
The Cover of the Journal Makovets and Pavel Florensky’s World Picture
Константинович, Ю. П. (2022) · doi:10.57088/978-3-7329-9132-7_8
Finger, S., & Eling, P. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.002.0004
Finger, S. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.005.0001
Finger, S., & Eling, P. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.002.0006
Finger, S., & Eling, P. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190464622.002.0003
Telling Details: Realism and the Evidential Paradigm: The Case of Manzoni
Ferri, S. (2024) · Italian Culture · doi:10.1080/01614622.2024.2342091
“12On the impact of Lavater ’ s physiognomy on European culture, see Rodler (2000) and the comprehensive Percival and Tytler (2005).”
Ware, O. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197763995.003.0004
Ware, O. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197763995.003.0003
Ware, O. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197763995.003.0001
Ware, O. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197763995.003.0002
Ware, O. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197763995.003.0006
Ware, O. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197763995.002.0006
Ware, O. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197763995.003.0005
Ware, O. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197763995.003.0007
Ware, O. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197763995.005.0001
Metadata
- Authors
- Krobb, F., Percival, M., & Tytler, G.
- Venue
- The Modern Language Review
- Publisher
- JSTOR
- Published
- 2006-10-01
- Volume
- 101
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1071
- ISSN
- 0026-7937 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1968422058
- Semantic Scholar
- 5d7db4f14af3e321b87794d4af6e4e0e288f53ea
- Cited by
- 60
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2024: 13 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 42.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Modern Language Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › German Literature and Culture Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophy and Historical Thought
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › European Cultural and National Identity
- Keywords
- Johann Caspar Lavater, physiognomy, eighteenth-century Europe, history of social sciences, pseudoscience, art and literature, 19th century
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
