Changing Beauty Standards
I was lunching with a friend who
mentioned having read a biography of Lucrezia Borgia, an Italian femme fatale, which
described the extreme lengths women went to in order to have a ghostly white
complexion, the epitome of beauty back in the 1400 and 1500s. Frankly, they make as much sense as what women do nowadays to be thin.
Here’s the skin beautifying
description that Sarah Bradford provides in LUCREZIA BORGIA—LIFE, LOVE AND
DEATH IN RENAISSANCE ITALY (page 146). “Foreheads were to be kept high, white
and serene by hair removal, by applying a past of mastic overnight. Perhaps the
most revolting beauty treatment for whitening the skin of the face, neck, hands
and other parts of the body ‘whiter than alabaster’ was this…from Marinello:
‘Take two young white doves, cut off their necks, pluck them and draw out their
innards, then grind them with four ounces of peach stones, the same of washed
melon seeds, two ounces of sublimate mercury, a spoon of bean flour and ground
pebbles which have been infused for a day and a night in milk; two young
cabbages; a fresh cheese made that day or hour, fourteen whites of fresh eggs,
half an ounce of camphor and an equal amount of borax; and four bulbs of the
white lily, ground together and mixed together, put in a glass vial and mix
with water and use at your pleasure.’ He continues with a further eight pages
of recipes for whitening skin, considered so necessary for appearance of
beauty.’”
W...
Source: Normal Eating - Category: Eating Disorders Authors: eatnormalnow Source Type: blogs
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