In 1899, Heinrich W÷lfflin condemned the Italian Mannerists for using their subjects as 'pretexts for perfunctory constructions of curves'. However, this criticism was eventually reversed and became a source of praise. But curiously enough, the art historical language that writers used remained pretty much the same.<BR><BR>In 1967, John Shearman praised one of Parmigianino's paintings as a composition comprised of 'curves', which seemed to interfere with 'the illustrative meaning of the forms'. Apparently, a dichotomy between linear stylisation and figuration was taken for granted, which basically meant that no one bothered to point out how out of step this notion of a dichotomy was with artistic ideas of the time being studied.<BR><BR>Moreover, this division served as the basis for the analysis not only of Mannerism, but for a variety of other styles from other periods as well. Looking for Lines traces the origins of this view back to the eighteenth century and scrutinises the influence it has exerted on the aesthetic and art-historical judgments of the past three centuries.