Table Of ContentBeauty
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Beauty
ROGER SCRUTON
1
3
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CONTENTS
PictureAcknowledgements vii
Preface ix
1. JudgingBeauty 1
2. HumanBeauty 34
3. NaturalBeauty 58
4. EverydayBeauty 80
5. ArtisticBeauty 97
6. TasteandOrder 133
7. ArtandEro¯s 148
8. TheFlightfromBeauty 167
9. ConcludingThoughts 195
NotesandFurtherReading 199
Index 215
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PICTURE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1 Baldassare Longhena, Sta Maria della Salute, Venice # Fratelli
AlinariMuseumoftheHistoryofPhotography,Florence/Alinari
Archives,Florence
2 SirChristopherWren,StPaul’sCathedralviewedupLudgateHill
#PeterTitmuss/Alamy
3 A humble but harmonious street: Barn Hill, Stamford # Robin
Weaver/Collections
4 Simone Martini, Annunciation, 1333, Uffizi Gallery, florence #
AlinariArchives,Florence/reproducedwiththepermissionofMin-
isteroperiBenieleAttivita`Culturali
5 Herefordshirehuntingcountry#AlanGreeley/Collections
6 Alpinegorge#DavidYoung/fotoLibra
7 WindingpathwayatLittleSparta,gardenofIanHamiltonFindlay
#RobinGillanders
8 A door from a Georgian pattern-book from The Architect, or
PracticalHouseCarpenter,byAsherBenjamin,1830
9 Atablelaidforguests#MichaelPaul/StockFood/GettyImages
10 Palladianwindow#OxfordUniversityPress
11 IngmarBergman,WildStrawberries,1957#SvenskFilmindustri/
Album/akg-images
vii
PictureAcknowledgements
12 VincentVanGogh,YellowChair,1888,NationalGallery,London
#2006TopFoto.co.uk
13 FirststatementofmelodyfromSamuelBarber,AdagioforStrings,
1936#1939(renewed)byG.Schirmer,Inc.(ASCAP).Allrights
reserved.Internationalcopyrightsecured.UsedbyPermission
14 JamesAbbottMcNeillWhistler(attr.),NocturneinGreyandSilver,
theThames#ArtGalleryofNewSouthWales,Sydney/TheBridge-
manArtLibrary
15 Michelangelo, Laurentian Library staircase # Alinari Archives,
Florence
16 Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538, Uffizi Gallery, Florence # Alinari
Archives,Florence
17 Franc¸oisBoucher,TheTriumphofVenus,1740#Nationalmuseum,
Stockholm/TheBridgemanArtLibrary
18 SandroBotticelli,TheBirthofVenus,c.1485,UffiziGallery,Flor-
ence#AlinariArchives,Florence
19 RembrandtVanRijn,SusannaandtheElders,1647#Gema¨ldegal-
erie,Berlin/TheBridgemanArtLibrary
20 EdwardManet,Olympia,1863,Muse´ed’Orsay,Paris#Roger-Viol-
let/TopFoto.co.uk
21 Franc¸oisBoucher,BlondeOdalisque,1752,AltePinakothek,Mun-
ich#bpk/BayerischeStaatsgema¨ldesammlungen
22 FrancescoGuardi,ScenewithMarineLandscape,MuseumofCastel
vecchio,Verona#AlinariArchives,Florence
23 Poussin,TheIsraelitesDancingAroundtheGoldenCalf,National
Gallery,London#1999TopFoto.co.uk
24 AserenetempleBuddha:sacredart#ullsteinbild/akg-images
25 Gardengnomes#iStockphoto
26 WilliamHogarth,titlepagefromTheAnalysisofBeauty,1753#
TrusteesoftheBritishMuseum
viii
PREFACE
Beautycanbeconsoling,disturbing,sacred,profane;itcanbe
exhilarating,appealing,inspiring,chilling.Itcanaffectusin
an unlimited variety of ways. Yet it is never viewed with
indifference: beauty demands to be noticed; it speaks to us
directlylikethevoiceofanintimatefriend.Iftherearepeople
whoareindifferenttobeauty,thenitissurelybecausetheydo
notperceiveit.
Yet judgements of beauty concern matters of taste, and
maybe taste has no rational foundation. If so, how do we
explain the exalted place of beauty in our lives, and why
shouldwelamentthefact—iffactitis—thatbeautyisvanish-
ingfromourworld?Andisitthecase,assomanywritersand
artists since Baudelaire and Nietzsche have suggested, that
beauty and goodness may diverge, so that a thing can be
beautifulpreciselyinrespectofitsimmorality?
Moreover,sinceitisinthenatureoftastestodiffer,howcan
astandarderectedbyoneperson’stastebeusedtocastjudge-
ment on another’s? How, for example, can we pretend that
one type of music is superior or inferior to another when
comparative judgements merely reflect the taste of the one
whomakesthem?
ix
Description:"Beauty can be consoling, disturbing, sacred, profane," writes Roger Scruton. "It can be exhilarating, appealing, inspiring, chilling. It is never viewed with indifference: beauty demands to be noticed; it speaks to us directly like the voice of an intimate friend." In a book that is itself beautifu
