ABSTRACT
In his 1707 compendium Groot schilderboek(Great book of painting), Gerard de Lairesse carefully distinguishes between different categories of beauty. With regard to the human figure, he is interested in the proportional relationship of the limbs, physical movements and skin colour. While his views on bodily proportions are similar to those expressed in earlier writings, particularly in Willem Goeree's Natuurlyck en schilderkonstigh ontwerp der menschkunde (A natural and painterly outline of the study of humankind, 1682), Lairesse takes a different approach when it comes to the beauty of colour. For him, beauty achieved through colour is inextricably linked to natural truth, resulting in a significant revaluation and moral interpretation throughout his compendium. This clearly distinguishes Lairesse's position from the earlier debate about disegno and colore , as he redefines beauty through colour as both a moral and aesthetic principle grounded in nature and virtue.
