European ideas of race in the 18th century were often closely allied with aesthetics. Aesthetic judgments were regularly made about different peoples, though there was disagreement about the value of race' as a concept.

This paper will look at the relationship between ideas of race and aesthetics in terms of a growing tendency to see human beauty in the face rather than the body, and race in terms of the skull rather than its outer covering. The discussion will centre mainly on the work of Johann Caspar Lavater.