Retrato e melancolia : a fisionomia da insanidade

The humoral theory, proposed by Hippocrates, suggests that the human being can be divided, according to their personality, in four main types - sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic and melancholic. The melancholic type, and the concept of melancholy have been widely mentioned and explored since their origin. Its prevalence, as Problem XXX dictates, in the life and mind of extraordinary men, has generated and inspired various theories, books, and works of art. In such a wide window of time, since Ancient Greece, until today, this concept inevitably suffers alterations and different interpretations of its meaning, depending on the time and culture it’s in. In this manner, all of these different facets and versions of melancholy originate different themes of this state of mind, feeling or personality. With this dissertation I wanted to reunite those different representations, focusing on portrait and physiognomy, and how melancholy translates itself in these, depending on its context, looking to identify which elements make a portrait or face melancholic. With my research I was able to, indeed, observe and recognize certain patterns and elements that, between the many meanings and nuances that melancholy acquires, are similar through many contexts and time period