What if historical art masters had Photoshop?

[kenny]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/22/art-history-photoshopped_n_5367171.html

 

[MarionC]

Thought provoking. Those voluptuous original women are so beautiful.
I love that they photoshopped the cherub too : )

 

[Lady_Disdain]

That article is based on a huge fallacy, that women in the past weren't under pressure to be beautiful, and mistakes different beauty standards for a lack of beauty standards.

In the time period of the pictures shown (16th to 19th century), women would usually spend hours at their toilette. Make up was heavy and often lead based. Belladona, a poison, was used as eyedrops, to dilate the pupils, which probably also impacted vision. There are accounts of women letting blood to achieve that beautiful pallor. Hair was bleached, pulled, shaved, etc as fashion commanded. At one time, women's wigs were so tall that the woman had to sit on the floor of the coach, leaning out. Need I mention corsets, which ranged from simple underwear to tight lacing?

As for photoshopping, let's just remember that painters learned fast how to flatter the sitter. Or, if we are talking about historicals and not portraits, how to turn the regular model he had into a stunning woman. Those women in paintings are just as idealized as photoshopped pictures in today's magazines.

 

[MarionC]

That article is based on a huge fallacy, that women in the past weren't under pressure to be beautiful, and mistakes different beauty standards for a lack of beauty standards.

In the time period of the pictures shown (16th to 19th century), women would usually spend hours at their toilette. Make up was heavy and often lead based. Belladona, a poison, was used as eyedrops, to dilate the pupils, which probably also impacted vision. There are accounts of women letting blood to achieve that beautiful pallor. Hair was bleached, pulled, shaved, etc as fashion commanded. At one time, women's wigs were so tall that the woman had to sit on the floor of the coach, leaning out. Need I mention corsets, which ranged from simple underwear to tight lacing?

As for photoshopping, let's just remember that painters learned fast how to flatter the sitter. Or, if we are talking about historicals and not portraits, how to turn the regular model he had into a stunning woman. Those women in paintings are just as idealized as photoshopped pictures in today's magazines.

Thank you for all this - quite fascinating to learn how we have tortured ourselves historically.
It's interesting the turn things have taken. The role model of today is not a fertile lush woman but a skinny boy shape with big boobs. What are your thoughts on why this is happening culturally at this time?