The Most Beautiful Women.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 19, 4 November 1908, Page 52

The Most Beautiful Women.

During a recent interview. Rodin, the great sculptor, whom George Bernard Shaw considers the greatest of all living artiste in any- medium, was asked what country produced the most beautiful women. Rodin said: “All of them. Each country has its own beauty. What is beauty? No exact definition can be given. Those who most resemble the classic type are some of the Italian models from the .South, and from Sicily, really the Greek part of Italy. These also have a peculiarity rarely’ found nowadays with us, that of the second toe being longer than the big toe. One finds it invariably in Greek statues. Another classic feature, the nose continuing the line of the forehead, is rarer. I once saw it in a young American lady, Miss D , who has produced it artificially’ by injecting paraffin to fill up the hollow at the'bridge of the nose. The effect was very ugly.” .Someone having remarked that the Italians and Spaniards lost their beauty early, Rodin said: “Ye,*; nowadays with tn beauty is continued much later. Among the English, beauty seems to bo remarkably preserved. Perhaps it is the effect of the climate. When I say English. I mean tlrf* beauties one «ees in London. Generally, no doubt, they axe Irish, in whotn beauty is natural.’*