The origins of the tableau vivant can be traced back at least to the pantomimus of ancient Rome, but the form achieved its peak of modern popularity in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when poses plastiques sometimes struck an ambiguous balance between art and pornography. In the following article, Volker Schachenmayr calls for a re-evaluation of the form, investigating how far and in what ways a static pose, or attitude, can be a theatrical performance. His article focuses on the attitudes of Emma Lyon, later and more familiarly known as wife to Sir William Hamilton and mistress to Nelson. Drawing on connections with Sir William's archaeological pursuits, and with the performance theory of Goethe, an admirer of Emma's attitudes, he suggests a vocabulary to make the tableau accessible to performance critics, using Goethe's Italienische Reise and Poussin's Inspiration of the Epic Poetto to shape the discussion. Volker Schachenmayr received his PhD in Drama from Stanford University, and this article is part of a larger research project on Winckelmann, the Grand Tour, and stage performance in the age of Goethe.