Albrecht von Haller expressed himself in a rather restrained fashion when confronted with the exuberant description of his profile made by Lavater. In the “Göttingischen Anzeigen” from 1776 he noted: “…I don’t quite know how Mr. L is in a position to extract a multitude of characteristics which he has, by his own conviction, identified through engaging in my writing. However one considers said characteristics, they are too complex to be able to distinguish them in a silhouette. For example, the constant calculated decisions made by a generally jolly and poetic genius.”
