The ancient Greek sculptors were familiar with the expression, as shown
in the statues of the Laocoon and Arretino; but, as Duchenne remarks,
they carried the transverse furrows across the whole breadth
of the forehead, and thus committed a great anatomical mistake:
this is likewise the case in some modern statues.
It is, however, more probable that these wonderfully accurate
observers intentionally sacrificed truth for the sake of beauty,
than that they made a mistake; for rectangular furrows on
the forehead would not have had a grand appearance on the marble.
The expression, in its fully developed condition, is, as far
as I can discover, not often represented in pictures by
the old masters, no doubt owing to the same cause; but a lady
who is perfectly familiar with this expression, informs me
that in Fra Angelico's `Descent from the Cross,' in Florence,
it is clearly exhibited in one of the figures on the right-hand;
and I could add a few other instances.
Dr. Crichton Browne, at my request, closely attended to this
expression in the numerous insane patients under his care
in the West Riding Asylum; and he is familiar with Duchenne's
photographs of the action of the grief-muscles.
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