"L'uomo fisico morale e intellettuale" (1857) di Carlo Blasis e il filo rosso dell'estetica sensista

The article focuses on the treatise L’uomo fisico, intellettuale e morale (1857) by the Italian choreographer Carlo Blasis and some writings by the French art theoretician Jacques-Nicolas Paillot de Montabert (La théorie du geste, 1813; Traité complet de la peinture, 1829). Two main issues are shared by all these writings: on the one hand, the same idea of drawing and of its ability to synthesize the structure of gesture in a clear and precise way; on the other, the possibility to suggest feelings and meanings by means of combinations of lines. Both Blasis and Paillot de Montabert rely on a sensualist theoretical approach, according to which given visual patterns can convey ideas and sensations.