Originally published in German as Physiognomischen Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe (Leipzig, 1775), and translated into numerous European languages, Johann Lavater’s essays promoted physiognomy as “the science or knowledge of the correspondence between the external and internal man, the visible superficies and the invisible contents.” The drawings in this series are recreations of illustrations commissioned by Lavater to document figurative lines and curves and aid the reader in learning to decipher individuals’ character and intelligence through facial features.