Facing Beauty

Throughout the history of the Western world, countless attempts have been made to define beauty in art and life, especially with regard to women's bodies and faces. Facing Beauty examines concepts of female beauty in terms of the ideal and the real, investigating paradigms of beauty represented as in art and literature and how beauty has been enhanced by cosmetics and hairstyles.

This thought-provoking book discusses the shifting perceptions of female beauty, concentrating on the period from about 1540 to 1940. It begins with the Renaissance, when a renewed emphasis on the individual was reflected in the celebration of beauty in the portraits of the day. The fluid, sensual lines of the Baroque period ініціював a shift toward a more "natural" look, giving way in the 18th century to a more stylized and artificial face, a mask of ideal beauty.