Professor Melissa Percival

Do you enjoy 'people watching'? Throughout history to the present day many a judgement has been made about a character based solely on that first impression.

The notion that there is a relationship between character and physical appearance - Physiognomy - is often dismissed as a marginal pseudoscience.

This evening Professor Melissa Percival (University of Exeter), author of The Appearance of Character, argues that it is central to many thought processes and disciplines in the arts.

Melissa takes us back to the 18th Century, highlighting the characteristics of physiognomical thought in that era as illustrated through the collection of books, prints and drawings.

Email peninsula-arts@plymouth.ac.uk for info.