Art

Female beauty in 15th century portraits

I love the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance, it was a wonderful time when religious traditions, belief in the other world and miracles were still strong. At the same time, science and real art developed. The life of people in those good old days was a real fairy tale - only a terrible one, because not all fairy tales are good.

How wonderful it would be to live in those days, but only if you Countess, you have a huge castle on a hill, large areas of fertile land, two dozen villages with slaves, loyal guards and a full treasury of treasures. And most importantly, no one should claim your property ...

Portrait of a young girl. Petrus Christus (circa 1470)

Beautiful girls and beauty standards in the 15th century

If we look at the ideals of beauty of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance, we will see women who will seem to many to be completely ugly and even miserable, but they have something in common with modern models.

Beauties in the 15th century bleached their faces, shaved their eyebrows and even their foreheads, making a high forehead, and they were also asexual, and in this they have many similarities with modern models. Look at the collections of recent years, how many asexual female models there are who look little like girls.

The standards of beauty have changed, and will change, only in our time a variety of standards can exist at the same time, or rather, now there is a certain erasure of the ideals of beauty, which has not happened in history. Thanks to this, the life of many people will become easier, because in the pursuit of the material ideal, you can lose the most important thing and live your whole life in vain.

"Portrait of a Lady" circa 1460. The work of the artist Rogier van der Weyden. The portrait consists of geometric shapes that form the veil, cutouts of the dress, the face and hands of the girl, and the rays of light illuminate the face and headdress, thanks to which the contrast of light and darkness creates a truly beautiful Gothic image.