In his four-volume main work “Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe” (“Physiognomic Fragments for the Promotion of Knowledge of Human Nature and Love of Humans”) (1775-1778) Johann Caspar Lavater was interested in the relationship between appearances and the inner being of humans, and further, he also tried to abstract from the individual case and construct human types. Thus, the silhouette of the Göttingen scholar Albrech von Haller (1708-1777) was regarded by him as an archetype of scholarship. His description of von Haller’s silhouette in the first volume of “Physiognomischen Fragmente” makes this clear.
