Vanity & Happiness

A Portrait of a Young Lady (E. N. Likhachyova). 1790

By Yermolai Kamezhenkov

According to Sir Harry Beaumont (Joseph Spence) in his Dialogue on Beauty, published in 1752, the following list makes up the most beautiful woman in the 18th century.:

• "The head should be well rounded and small, the forehead white, smooth and open (not with the hair growing down too deep upon it, neither flat nor prominent.
• the hair either black, bright or brown; not thin, but full and waving...the black is particularly useful for setting off the whiteness of the neck and skin.
• the eyes, black, chestnut or blue, clear, bright and lively, rather large in proportion than small.
• the eyebrows, well divided, rather full than thin; semicircular and broader in the middle than at the ends; of a neat turn, but not formal
• the cheeks should not be wide; and should look firm and soft; have a degree of plumpness with the red and white finely blended together.
• the ear should be rather small than large; well folded and with an agreeable tinge of red
• the nose would be...of a moderate size, strait and well-squared; though sometimes a little rising in the nose which is but just perceivable, may give a very graceful look to it
• the mouth should be small; and the lips, not of equal thickness; they should be well-turned, small, rather than gross; soft, even to the eye and with a living read in them.  A truly pretty mouth is like a rose-bud that is beginning to blow
• the skin in general should be white, properly tinged with red; with an apparent softness and a look of thriving health in it."

So naturally, the ladies turned to the use of cosmetics!  However, such widespread use was not universally accepted.  In 1770 the British Parliament passed the following law:

"All women, of whatever age, rank, profession or degree, whether virgins, maids, or widows, that shall from and after this act impose upon, seduce or betray into matrimony any of His Majesty's subjects by the use of scents, paints, cosmetics, washes, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high-heeled shoes, or bolstered hips, shall incur the penalty of law now in force against witchcraft and like misdemeanors, and that the marriage, upon conviction, shall stand null and void."

I wonder just how many women were convicted.

- referenced from Fashions in Makeup, by Richard Corson, Peter Owen, London, 1972