THE EVOLUTION OF BEAUTY
THROUGHOUT
HISTORY
INTRODUCTION
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There are five concepts of beauty throughout
History: beauty, aesthetic experience, art, artistic
creation and a reality copy.
The sense which Greeks gave to these concepts
were very different from the concepts of
nowadays. Even if the words are similar, their
meaning is different.
Part of these concepts were developed before
they were used by philosophers later on.
We must not forget the tastes of the time and
work of arts belong to aesthetic history.
EGYPT
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Nowadays scientists have different opinions about how the
concept of beauty has developed over the years.
Ancient Egypt: Cleopatra and other kings of Egypt were
improving their cosmetic over the years. They used
different kind of products such as oils, perfumes…. Many
oils were also used as sun protectors for the inhabitants.
Egyptians also had diets. Egyptian women such as
dancers, handmaids… also shaved their hair off their arms,
legs and other parts of their body. Their bodies shone
because they used lots of oils and creams which also
protected them from insects. To have their skin soft and
supple, workers of the empire were sometimes paid with
cosmetics. (Oils, creams …) They ate more vegetables,
fruits and less meat than we do today. They watched their
weight carefully.
Many people think that Egyptians’ concept of beauty was
better than it is now.
The king representations were enormous, the king was
very important for the Egyptians.
THE CLASSICAL GREEK AND
ROMAN WORLD
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Ideal aesthetics in the Classical period were based
on the sculpture. Beauty was conceived as a result
of mathematical calculus, measured proportions
and symmetry.
The pioneer of the Greek theory about beauty was
Polyclitus, who made the “Cannon”, nowadays
lost. The male beauty and the female beauty were
based on symmetry, which says that the body is
beautiful when all the parts are proportional to the
whole figure. But there are small differences
between male beauty and female beauty.
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POLYCLITUS :
Polyclitus, was a Greek sculptor who formulated an artistic
cannon, a collection of rules, elaborated with mathematical
calculus whose aim was the perfect representation of human
body.
The main objective of the book was to study the proportion of
the different parts which form the anatomy.
The most well-known proportions are the measure of the head,
this must be seven times smaller than the one of the body. In
the Doríforo, Polyclitus showed the idealized image of a
naked athlete
■LISIPO: THE CANON’S VARIATION
The Greek sculptor Lisipo (IV bC) was the
sculptor of Filipo II and Alexander the great.
His sculpture the “Apoxiomeno”, (the one
who takes off the oil) represents a young
athlete who is naked and standing, who after
the competition takes the dust with the
“strigilis”(a type of plant).
Doríforo, Polyclitus
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PRAXITELES: THE FEMALE
IDEAL OF BEAUTY
The most estimated piece of
art of Praxiteles is his nude
sculpture of Aphrodite, which
was in the city of Cnidus. The
goodness of Love had been
always represented with
clothes, like this appears at
the Parthenon's frieze.
Praxiteles surprised her, when
she was getting out of the
bathroom, she has on a side
the jar of the perfumes and the
sheet folded to wrap.
Cnidus Aphrodite by Praxiteles
THE MIDDLE AGES
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In The Middle Ages we find a beauty icon set in
the barbarian invasions, which showed the Nordic
beauty of nymphs and knights.
Christian faith and morality imposed a strict
model in clothing and it nearly led to the
disappearance of make up, which was against
God’s creation. The ideal medieval woman painted
by Jan van Eyck, showed paleness in the skin,
blond hair, small and rosy lips, thin torso and the
bone structure like the Nordic women. As for men,
they were represented as the way of the authentic
fighter knights: long hair, which indicates strength,
freedom and virility; tall and thin men, strong and
vigorous, slender and graceful, wide chest and
shoulders.
MODERN AGE
RENAISSANCE
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The renaissance culture represents the return to rationalism
and the study of the nature. The nationalist feeling re-arises.
The renaissance spirit is sometimes contradictory: the
beauty is between a realistic conception of imitation of the
nature and an ideal vision of supernatural perfection.
Making the visible world the way for ascend to
a very sensitive dimension.
 According to Leonardo Da Vinci,
the gloom is the body and the
light is the spirit, they are together.
MANNERISM
Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from
the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It
lasted until about 1580 in Italy.
 Mannerism started the modern
art: things were represented as
the artist saw them. The beauty is
relative, it passes from the only
beauty of the renaissance, and
which is stocked in science,
many concepts of beauty in the
La tempestad
mannerism, derive from nature.
(Giorgione
 For the mannerists the classic
beauty is empty, without spirit,
opposing a spiritual, subjective
and not regulated beauty.
 Ii is a period of scepticism,
relativism where the human is
not the centre of the universe.
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BAROQUE
The baroque is the heir of the mannerism scepticism which
is reflected in the authors of the time. The beauty searches
new ways of expression and emerging new aesthetics
concepts like acuity, ingenuity, and insight.
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They emphasise on personal conduct,
appearance, reflecting an active,
elegant, refined, exaggerated to
take the name of “préciosité”.
Rubens was one of the most
important painters in his time. In
“The Three Graces” (1638)
he showed three women who
were dancing and naked.
LAS MENINAS
By Diego Velázquez
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EMPIRCISM
The empiricism was developed in the
United Kingdom. It is the opposite of
the French rationalism putting
emphasis in the feelings. The
empiricists defend the subjectivity of
taste which has to get free of the
external rules to be perceived by the
human who is the one who interprets
the aesthetic judgments with his own
standards of opinion. According to
their argument, beauty is not inherent
in things but it is in the mind of the
viewer, so they lay the foundations of
aesthetic relativism.
Beauty is not a quality of the things: It
only exists in the mind of the beholder The Madonna with
the long Neck by
and each mind perceives a different Parmigiano
beauty.
ILLUSTRATION
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The 16th century is based on a dual trend: the French
Cartesian rationalism, which gives a regulated aesthetics
rules, and the empiricism, which offers an imaginative
aesthetic.
The
illustrated
aesthetic focuses
on issues of
human
physiology,
making aesthetic
feelings.
Felipe 5th´s family.
By Van Loo
20th and 21st CENTURY
1900´s:
 The shape was previously
established because of the use of
corset; tight skirts on hips to bellshaped widening up to the ground.
 The work world is beginning to
incorporate tailored suits with an
influence of male cut for women.
 Lace and feathers were all the
rage in dresses, highlighting big
hats very decorated.
1910´s:
 The silhouette of women was completely smooth on top, so
the unisex or androgynous look became widespread. It
completely eliminates the long skirt of the previous decade
and the overskirt that was alone, lost his flight. They wore
dresses with fringe and whole small purses. It shortened
the clothes above the ankle, and the decade ends with the
haircut ETON.
1920´s:
 Clothing was becoming much more practical. Again, you
change the shape of the waist down in anatomical position,
marking the waist and widening the shoulders. He
popularized the suit jacket to go out and party dresses were
chosen with great cleavage on the back and alone coat with
fur. In the decade shorts skirts are included. Hats disappear
and turn to let your hair grow.
1930´s:
 This was a decade of war and
it damaged fashion. The look is
militarized, tissues became
poor because of these girls are
wearing the uniform of a city,
ie business suit. The long stood
below the knees popularizing
the tights, although they were
scarce. They wore Toppling
shoes, cork and tiny hats that
were very simple, or simply
head scarves.
1940´s:
 It was the splendour, triumph of the new look of Christian
Dior. Once again the shape pushed back with a narrow
waist and it took their shoulders and chest volumes. It
increases the flight of their skirts but it remained below
their knees. It started the cult of beauty, women were tired
of masculine style and that is why we turned the corners.
The shoes are styled making them more pointed, women
wore cloth coats, purses to the elbow and the most elegant
hats.
1950´s:
 This decade is out for the revolution. They used resulting
and youthful clothes. Fashionable clothes become
extravagant. The prints were of butterflies and flowers. The
silhouettes make it smooth again and began to quickly
impose worldwide
1960´s:
 The concept of different clothes emerged original, funny
and bizarre. The hair is short and used geometric cuts. Both
men and women began to wear bellbottoms and imposing
cotton blouses
1970´s:
 There was a fury towards
the retro. Flowers were the
main symbol in clothes
and hair, and represented
illusory ideology that
guided the called
Revolution of Flowers.
Stocks were the suits and
dresses that showed off in
tight pants. Cotton was
replaced by lucre, heeled
boots or shoes were worn,
as the Swedish type.
1980´s:
 Fashion brought very positive changes. The new style was
characterized by the use of visible underwear, with lace
straps as it has never been seen in the past. This was
synonymous of liberation for women. Thanks to this trend,
today women can wear comfortable shirts without
worrying about the slides or the straps of bras. Women
feel free but slimness is still fashionable
1990´s:
 This time was based on the variety of
trends, that tried to get them feel
more comfortable without giving much
importance to the views of others. It is
the time of the Free Expression. They
wore the shirt of The Clash or they
could let their hair loose. The big
change was the appearance of these
piercing, tattoos and hair dye.
Nowadays:
 Today fashion has changed
according to different urban
tribes, that distinguish each
other clothing as exclusive
brands, namely to keep
certain logo or symbol
pattern for a dress
accessory or different
colours. Men and women
both take the jeans for all
types of work or occasion.
Fortunately, being
extremely thin is not
fashionable any more.
ESTETIC IDEALS IN 20th CENTURY
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The twentieth century shows different
tendencies which depend on the
economic motivations and what they
mean: they have voluminous bodies
because they don’t want to make
people think that they’re starving. In
fact, they try to transmit their status
of life which allows them to choose
their food; they worried about their
image and went to the gym.
In the 60’s the trends changed: thin
and tall bodies, flat stomachs,
voluminous hair, big eyes, small nose,
beefy lips, symmetrical and solid
bosoms, long and thin legs, marked
but not excessive hips and tanned and
young bodies were popular.
ESTETIC IDEALS IN 21st CENTURY
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Today the media don’t
show just one model of
beauty. They can recover
all the different styles of
the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and
50’s in publicity just for a
short period of time.
Nowadays the tolerance
and the polytheism in
beauty are all the rage.
The evolution of body image in the 21st century is wandering
and uncertain, the wish to stand out has brought about the
punk fashion.
Anti-aging products are fashionable. Today people live more
than in the past. All of us want to become old but with a good
health and a good physical appearance too.