Know thyself? Did Phrenology help William Powell Frith address middle- class Victorian crowd anxiety?

JANE DE BENEDUCCI Lorenzo Niles Fowler’s Phrenology bust of circa 1850 has achieved a modern iconic status as an artefact that represents either a quackish pseudoscience or early attempts to understand the functions of the brain. Fowler maintained that Phrenology could allow you to ‘know yourself’. This article will investigate the history and context of Phrenology to understand why knowing thyself and others aided William Figure. 1. William Powell Frith, Ramsgate Sands (Life at the Seaside), 1854, Oil on Canvas. (Collection: Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017 Powell Frith’s painting Ramsgate Sands (Life Ref RCIN 405068) at the Seaside) (1854) to be interpreted by the public as a celebration of the crowd. JANE DE BENEDUCCI / VIDES dominate the scene. Arscott comments dominate thescene.Arscott However, it istheordinarypeoplethat performing animals. and donkeys and Judystand,bathingmachines, a Punch recognisable seaside sights, towards the paraphernalia looking of the sea viewer unusually placedin is Ramsgate. The of Victorian visitors familiar to buildings town array of characters features and an over 100 titled, Seaside, asitwasoriginally 155cm, x Measuring 77cm to purchasethepainting. viewing, immediately sought on Albert, came when Queen Victoria andPrince padakis, 2000), p.89. 4 MaryCowling, 2006), pp.78–93.p.167. Powell Smith.PaintingtheVictorian Age,ed.byMarkBillsandVivien Knight(London:YaleUniversityPress, 3 CarolineArscott,‘William PowellSmith’sTheRailwayStation.Classification andtheCrowd’,in 2 ChristopherWood, 1 JeremyPaxman, seaside’. at the the English and mannersof ‘as a memento ofthe people, habits predicting it wouldbecome valuable coverage, with TheArtJournal astutely The Timesgood gave it all and Punch , (Life attheSeaside). put in place to protectRamsgate Sands see itwhere a guardrailwas up to lined public who the viewingpopular with that year,of it proved immediately Academy the highlights in 1854.One of the Summer Exhibition ofThe Royal was exhibitedtogreatacclaim at town narrative panorama of aBritishseaside (1818-1909) Frith’s William Powell a ‘piece vulgar cockney of business’, purchasers as ‘atissueofvulgarity’ and Disparaged by several prospective 2 Further proof of its success of Further proof Victorian Figurative Painting.Domestic LifeandtheContemporaryScene(London:AndreasPa The Victorians(London:RandomHouse,2009).p.22. William PowellSmith.APainter andHisWorld(Stroud:SuttonPublishing, 2006).p.38. The Athenaeum, Life atthe 1

197 to approximately to 18,000,000. the population ofBritain doubled the century, of half first the During in thedecades preceding the 1850s. the urbancrowdchangedforever of become a sphere anxiety. The shape of a timewhenthepublicspace had waspainting exhibited at Frith’s family unit. middle-class normative the tightlyknit fast to holds offer the ‘excitement of modernity’ but to diverse enough is that thecrowd matter andsetting. subject meticulous detail,modern the viewers with its the seathrilled their leisureby enjoying crowd class narrative of apredominantlymiddle- panoramic The innovative sentimental. a workthatisneithersimplisticnor seaside’s publicdomainandproduces the ordinary domesticpleasuresin houses. Ina modern shift,Frithplaces their come from chairs thatseemto on lounging talking, reading, crocheting, The seashore occupantsare relaxed, (1858) andTheRailwayStation(1862). his later renowned paintings vice that comesin crime or hint of no is crowdedbutgentleand domestic,with each part ofsocietyclaimingitsown previouscenturies, with boundaries of thesocial and parkshaddisconnected streets, squares cities thatmergedonto the Victorian population of exploding 3 The painting Derby Day William 4 The - 6 JohnPlotz, ture’, Cultural Critique,2003,213–41. 5 PeterMelvilleLogan,‘The Popularityof“PopularDelusions”:CharlesMackay andVictorianPopularCul- herds; it will be seen they go mad in be seentheygo herds; itwill that ‘Men, ithasbeenin said,think and the (1841) stated Madness of Crowds read textExtraordinaryPopularDelusions Charles Mackay’s and tension. widely that createdanxiety anundercurrent of physical disorder erupt potentially into and become a‘mob’ Any crowdcould Government andthepublicalike. by the crowd the working-class of the perception a damagingchangein marked ‘40s and the 1830s deaths in violence and to that led risings and meetings, demonstrations Chartists’ 1819 andthe massacreThe Peterloo of immune from. be not could upper-classcitizens and that evenmiddle- and pickpockets aggressive prostitutes street vendors, Streets throngedwithbeggars, due to poverty and unemployment. crime were anever-present threat cities. Violenceand of diverse crowds that spread easily through the socially such as cholera,typhus and typhoid diseases for provided abreedingground and streets housing working-class urban of the unsanitaryconditions The poverty, over-crowding and that were not new but vastly magnified. created the 1800s problems throughout Manchester, and Liverpool as London, cities such of growth the population never and before. Industrialisation a social anddemocratic leveller as became there. Thecrowd be to right The Crowd.British Literature University ofCaliforniaPress, 2000).p.4. and Politics(London: 198 psyche’. as ‘adeep-seated the human fact of appear protest working-class as violent events such make passing chose to still like Mackay, that LeBon, states Plotz later, years fifty over written (1895), era. In Gustave The Le Crowd Bon’s and powerfulthroughouttheVictorian crowd behaviour remained consistent by Hogarth in the 18 by Hogarthin urban crowds were famously depicted Negative visual representations of adverse results. of crowdbehaviour, they always have or protestMackay uses as an example notes that whatever mania, delusion, Logan by andone one.’ senses slowly recover their herds, whiletheyonly so wonderful, so awful… so exciting so awful… so wonderful, so human life picture of city existence,‘A the ambivalentexperiences inner- of that year describes Punch of report in Thackeray’s Mayhew’s comment on William urban conditions. grim of (1851) providedverbatim evidence Poor Labour andtheLondon London Mayhew’s the journalistic reporton Ruskin. Henry John Gaskell, and Quincey, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth de Bronte, Thomas Blake, Charlotte found in the fictional works of William Similar literary were descriptions Fildes built onthese illustrations. paintings byGustave Dore andLuke Frith wasanadmirer. Contemporary 6

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10 British Library, 2014 [accessed 1 February 2021]. 735–45 . 1840–1940’, 51.2 (2018), 261–80 9 Fenneke Sysling, ‘Science and Self-Assessment: Phrenological Charts . 10 Ibid, p. 6 Phrenology to Frith’s of audience the 1854 Exhibition Summer phenology prolific The underestimated. be cannot of Phrenology pamphlets, number journals, books, self-assessment charts given on the and lectures published, subject between 1800 and 1850 attest to its popularity. mirror mirror of that was modernity Victorian both The and exhilarating. terrifying science of Phrenology offered stability within this chaos. Morrell has states that Darwinism distorted the for modern reader the of importance that other life sciences were emerging during the first half of that included the nineteenth century Phrenology, geology, anthropology, and psychiatry. 199 Figure. 2. A System of Phrenology. George Combe (1830) Public Domain. Figure. 2. A System of Phrenology. George Combe (1830) Figure. 3. L.N. Fowler, Ceramic Phrenology Bust, circa 1850, Public Domain. Figure. 3. L.N. Fowler, Ceramic Phrenology Bust, circa popularity during the Victorian era from traits from the external appearance 1820-1850, which became known as that had previously been considered the ‘Phrenology Craze’, has much to do the most pervasive Western personality with Combe’s book On the Constitution theory.14 Johann Caspar Lavater (1749- of Man and its Relation to External Objects 1801), a Swiss theologian and poet, (1828). Cooter suggests that this book published Essays on Physiognomy propelled Phrenology from ‘an arcane between 1775-1778. Lavatar’s four theory of the brain and character to abundantly illustrated volumes became that of a socially respectable scientific widely read and respected in the Western vehicle of progressive ideas on social life world and revitalised a study of faces and organisation’.11 Combe’s book sold that dated back to ancient Greece.15 300,00 copies in the period 1828-1899, Together these ‘sciences’ produced a including a ‘popular’ cheaper edition, hierarchy of racial, intellectual, and and became an international bestseller. social types based on skull shape, It outsold all other non-fiction material foreheads, jawlines, noses, and ears. during that period, including Darwin’s The ability to classify people in a crowd JANE DE BENEDUCCI / VIDES On The Origin of Species which sold only through scientific ‘facts’ became a 50,000 between 1850-1899.12 subject of fascination and obsession for Victorians of all classes. It offered The positivist potential of Combe’s a certainty about types within crowds interpretation of Phrenology spoke to that created a sense of security whilst an era dominated by self-improvement. denying its prejudicial doctrines. By identifying the size of faculties on a scale of 1-7 (very small to very large) Lorenzo and his brother Orson Fowler on the skull, a phrenologist could (1809-1897) were Americans who recommend limiting negative faculties embraced all of Coombe’s social reform such as ‘destructiveness’ and activating ideas with zeal. Phrenology was a positive ones such as ‘benevolence’. powerful and influential movement in Combe’s positivist thesis proposed that the United States which lasted until Figure 4. (above) William Powell Frith, Ramsgate Sands (Life at the Seaside), (Detail), Phrenology could ‘facilitate education, the end of the nineteenth century, far 1854, Oil on Canvas. (Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II metaphysics, morals, and legislation’.13 longer than in Europe. In 1836 Lorenzo 2017 Ref RCIN 405068) Phrenology forged a connection with commenced his phrenological practice Figure 5. (below) William Powell Frith, Ramsgate Sands (Life at the Seaside) (Detail), physiognomy, a study of personality in New York. 1854, Oil on Canvas. (Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017 Ref RCIN 405068) 11 Roger Cooter, The Cultural Meaning of Popular Science: Phrenology and the Organisation of Consent in Nine- teenth-Century Britain (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984). p. 101. 12 Samuel H Greenblatt, ‘Phrenology in the Science and Culture of the 19th Century’, Neurosurgery, 37.4 (1995), 790–805 . 13 Anon, ‘Review of George Combe’s. A System of Phrenology’, History of Phrenology . 14 Rhonda Boshears and Harry Whitaker, ‘Phrenology and Physiognomy in Victorian Literature’, Progress in Brain Research, 205 (2013), 87–112 . p. 89. 15 Cowling, Victorian Figurative Painting. Domestic Life and the Contemporary Scene, p. 92.

201 202 JANE DE BENEDUCCI / VIDES 20 Paxman.p. 20. 19 JeremyMaas, 18 Arscott.p.84. 17 MaryCowling, 16 Greenblatt,p.795 publishing house inNewYork. publishing wasthelargest andCo Fowler N. L. and thepublic.By the mid-1840s prolific to assistpractitioners output of tools a produced and Phrenology interest in the enormous aware of The twobrotherswere commercially wrote home disparaginglyabout De he notes Cowling Art. of School Sass at theHenry early training during his gave lectures onthesubject to Frith in Britain, busts phrenological of and largestmanufacturer phrenologist James Decertain.Ville, adevoted not of this‘science’is opinion that Frith’s celebrate the crowd, itmustbe stated middle-class audience help Frith’s to understandifPhrenologycould has been focus article’s this Although science. that hadthereassuringveneer of recording andtabulating information analysing, for indulge intheirpassion Victorians to of instructionallowed callipers, craniometers, andmanuals such as tools Phrenology and other bust Fowler’s faculties. of positioning Spurzheim’s original remained true to ceramic short-lived. Fowler’s bust phase thatwasunsuccessfuland where heinitiatedanewphrenological Europe and settledinEngland1862, throughout the United Statesand lectured extensively Fowler Lorenzo Victorian Painters(London:Barrie&Jenkins, 1978).p.112. The ArtistasAnthropologist (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,1989).p.18. 16

203 the lukewarm critical reception of he was a devotee of Phrenology’. he wasadevotee of However, states that Caroline Arscott memoirs. his in and physiognomy Phrenology detected antipathy to an and Aubrey Noakes Wood Christopher of unpicturesque dress’. of the drawback withall modern life, had determined ‘I to try my hand on that and costume painting’ ‘weary of Frith writesthatby 1852 he had become memoirs, his In by theurbancrowd. Ville’s ‘science’. life’ ordinary ‘paint scenesof he wishedto early Frith hadstatedatan age that literary compositions. classical, and traditional art forms ofhistorical, the of had consisted works his Sands, Ramsgate summer Priorto since 1840. every at theRoyalAcademy almost successful artistwhohad exhibited Royal Academy and acommercially was adistinguishedmember the of aged 36, Frith, Powell By 1854William pervasive influenceacknowledged. been extensively discussed andtheir have and othernaturalscienceswould Phrenology application andpotentialof Leech andEdwardMatthew Ward,the John Augustus Egg, Mark Lemmon, painters suchasCharlesDickens, celebrated intellectuals,writers, and friends thatincluded large circle of Whatever withinFrith’s his opinion, 19 andfurthermore, was fascinated 17 Frith’s biographers Frith’s 20 Piqued at 18

to the stresses of modernity’, the stressesof to Victorian seasideas‘culturalresistance the defines Webb life. of pace hectic and escaping theurban pollution severalin 1851, summer for months family stayedat Ramsgate, which his at the perfect setting Frith found subject matter. a moremodernandnovel sought thathisaudience (1852), he understood painting EveningPrayers or Bedtime his contemporary interior domestic 22 Cowling, 22.3 (2005),121–38. p.121. 21 DarrenWebb, ‘Bakhtin attheSeaside: Utopia, Modernity and theCarnivalesque’, holding her young daughter, holding who in theforegroundbya mother gently representedis centrally Motherhood governance. maintain asemblanceof reassure to and Victorian ideology uses the frameworks ofconservative miniatureof domesticunits.Frith examination, Frith presents a series closer been portrayed, but on modern urban society hastraditionally may seem crowded anddisorderedas initialviewing on Ramsgate Sands Margate. preferred day ‘trippers’ adjacent class working- just astheyknew connection royal this have beenawarewould of knew thathismiddle-classaudience Ramsgate Frith during her childhood. Queen Victoria stayed several times in behavioursand social gentlyrelaxed. games enjoyed, and family treats escape. Routines weresuspended, of Bakhtin’s carnivalesque’ qualities represented for FrithsomeofMikhail The ArtistasAnthropologist. p.2. 21 and 204 to any situation. applied an accurate class consciousness appearance external through and worth common beliefsthatappraised human similar subconscious directory of argues that thisaudience had an internal further readable. Cowling safely and authentic, immediately convincingly the crowdbecame individuals whowere However, a contemporary audience, for viewers to see these obvious stereotypes. modern for possible only is states thatit work inTheArtistasAnthropologist Frith’s study of childcare. Cowling’s of involved inthedomesticduties and not telescopes, scientific holding reading, representedstanding, is seatedor playing games.Thepatriarchal male happily sandcastlesand making portrayed bychildren innocence is childhood The Victoriantheme of (see Fig.4). skirt behind themother’s peeping from hovering protectively and twochildren paddles inthe sea with anotherrelative been seen as dangerousand modern. have levelwould young ladyatground the pedlar and the eye with contact bothering them (see Fig. 5).The an itinerantpedlar gaze from his paper averts and reads his their father whilst the ground in chairsandon young ladiesinpale dresses seated The dominantgroupare the elegant Phrenology andphysiognomy. was underpinnedby the ‘sciences’ of 22 Thisanalytical gaze

Theory, Culture &Society, KNOW THYSELF? KNOW The dress, manner and gaze of this Michel Foucault’s ‘disciplinary space’ group create a narrative completely where social position and spatial distinguishable from their neighbours. placement are intimately linked.25 To Frith continually sets up multiple the rear of the picture are vendors and and competing readings within this lower social classes, remaining on the painting that distract and intrigue, and periphery and limiting contact, which negate feelings of crowd anxiety. On the acknowledged a social difference. young ladies’ left, an elderly couple is The picture’s central pyramid is hiding under a parasol with the husband resolutely the leisured middle class, wearing old-fashioned breeches and whose presence establishes authority gaiters. Here Frith uses fashion is to and control over the beach. The rear signify change and modernity, the use characters are blurred or have coarser of full sunbonnets or ‘uglies’ and long features and a broader physique trousers being a modern one. Balanced indicating a lower-class Celtic on the right, critics noted the attractive identity. The pedlars and entertainers widow as scandalously talking to her are poorly dressed. The foreground Figure 6. William Powell Frith, Ramsgate Sands (Life at the Seaside) (Detail), 1854, JANE DE BENEDUCCI / VIDES young lover.23 characters have finer features with Oil on Canvas. (Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017 Ref RCIN 405068) high foreheads that correlated through Equally risky is the telescope of one of Phrenology and physiognomy to higher the gentlemen to the far left trained intelligence and moral refinement. on the bathing carriages to the far Together with their lighter hair and right, again hinting at impropriety (see pale skin tone, this indicated a superior Fig. 6). Above him is an exotic group Anglo-Saxon inheritance. The truthful of Ethiopian Serenaders, but their depiction of characters and narrative identity is ambiguous as they could that placed ‘realism above artifice’ be English actors blacked out or real was hugely important in Victorian art African musicians.24 Frith’s appeal to and initiated by the Pre-Raphaelites.26 his audience was authentic attention Although Frith was no admirer of this to detail in his models in compositions movement, he takes enormous trouble that included elements of risk and finding real-life models that fit the uncertainty. part artistically and corresponded to established ideas of type and class. The Frith’s artistic acumen anticipates entertainer in the background with his

23 Edwina Ehrman, ‘Frith and Fashion’, in William Powell Smith. Painting the Victorian Age, ed. by Mark Bills and Vivien Knight (London: Yale University Press, 2006), pp. 111–29. 24 Timothy Barringer, ‘Review: “‘Modern Life’ - With a Vengeance”: William Powell Frith at the Guild- hall Art Gallery’, Victorian Literature and Culture, 36.1 (2008), pp. 255–61 . 25 Simon Knowles, ‘Pavement, Gutter, Carriageway: Social Order and Urban Spaces in the Work of W. P. Frith’, Victorian Literature and Culture, 39.2, 349–65 . p. 353. 26 Mark Bills, ‘Frith and the Influence of Hogarth’, in William Powell Smith. Painting the Victorian Age, ed. by Mark Bills and Vivien Knight (London: Yale University Press, 2006), pp. 41–55. p.43.

205 206 JANE DE BENEDUCCI / VIDES 27 Wood,p.36. type this class’. of drummer as ‘ugly,butanexcellent Frith describesthe pose. Ramsgate to from London was persuadedcome to to animal familyanddrummer assistant systems. his audience’s understanding ofbelief a narrativecomplete that showed With Ramsgate Sands,Frithcreated social realism thatcouldbe celebrated. and domestic a project to confidence, became a medium respect to this new Art authoritative. and confident more middle-class Victorian gaze became its allied ‘science’ of physiognomy,the recognised. ThroughPhrenologyand previously individuality than and to explore agreater human complexity Nevertheless, it represented anattempt readera modern naïveatbest. to and moralcharacteristicsmay seem determine intellectual aspects to urban crowd. Thereliance on physical genrethatcelebrated the domestic the of large-scale contemporary works of heralded theemergence painting Frith’s crowd. and manners customs ofthiscontemporary urban people, the reflected that accurately produce awork to paddling. Frithleaves to chance nothing daughter isthebaby girl Cissie Frith’s gentleman seated readingthe paper. as the friend Richard Llewelynposing his with the painting of the farright 27 Frith himself is in Frithhimself 207

208 KNOW THYSELF? KNOW