Women, Beauty and Power in Early Modern England

Physical Attractiveness and the Female Life-Cycle in Seventeenth-Century England

“…15 The emergence of good looks in maids was part of a series of physical and emotional changes, which marked the transition to womanhood, but beauty was unique in being conceptualised both as a biological trait of the individual and a hereditary attribute transferred from parents, and in particular from mothers, to children. 16 In 1650, Anne Halkett deemed Lady Anne Campbell, then in her late teens or early twenties, to be 'very handsome', and upon meeting her mother Lady Margaret, then aged 40, 'saw then where her daughter had deriued her beauty & ciuility', adding that whilst 'one was under some decay' the other was 'well proportioned'. 17 Such comments might be a source of maternal pride, but pious mothers were cautious not to brag about the good looks of their daughters.…”

“…39 Dorothy was asserting that she sought to beautify herself solely to please the man she would marry, and for a woman who sought to fashion a beautiful appearance purely for the benefit of her husband, widowhood might lead her to end the pursuit of beautification completely. 40 In 1665, at the age of 38 the widowed Katherine Austen described her body as 'the worst part of me' and claimed that the body of 'every servant made and country wench may excel mine, and can give the same satisfaction as mine'. Downplaying the importance of physical attractiveness in determining her sense of self-worth, Katherine wrote that she valued more the 'virtues and quality' of her soul and wished that 'if anything in me is to be loved, I hope 'tis my mind'.…”

“…5 All these authors have relied largely on evidence from male-authored texts, but Edith Snook has utilised female-authored fictions, histories, letters and advice books to explore how upper and middle-ranking women related to and regarded cosmetics, clothing and hairstyles, moving away from histories in which aesthetic trends impinged on and subordinated women, to investigate how knowledge of and skills relating to fashion and beautification enabled women to shape their own identities. 6 What follows builds on this scholarship, emphasising how age and ageing were crucial to how women regarded their own physical attractiveness and that of other women. Using evidence from diaries and letters this article examines how women from the upper and middle ranks of seventeenth-century English society conceptualised and adjusted to changes to their appearances, focusing on three stages of the female lifecycle when physical attractiveness was particularly significant: from the mid-teens when the emergence of attractive features in adolescent girls began to be recognised; from the twenties when such corporeal traits (alongside other attributes) became important as a means for many (but not all) to secure marriages; and from the forties, when women sought to cope with the visible and mental effects of aging as they passed through and beyond the menopause.…”

Red, White and Black: Colors of Beauty, Tints of Health and Cosmetic Materials in Early Modern English Art Writing

“…Furthermore, it gave attempts at embellishment a "physical and emotional logic" in contrast to the "theatrical" and "performative" nature of paint. 51 Nevertheless, cosmetic recipes used terms such as "fucus" and "pomatum" interchangeably for face-paints as well as medicines.52 Such preparations simultaneously covered and transformed, and contained the very ingredients Haydocke warned against.53…”