A Cultural History of Beauty in the Age of Enlightenment

A Cultural History of Beauty in the Age of Enlightenment covers the period from 1700 to 1800 – an age when society was undergoing multiple transformations due to increased population, dramatic urbanization, migration, colonization, and a transformative consumer ‘revolution.’ These developments led in turn to a wholly new culture of beauty: it was not just physical and external (pleasing to the eye) but also distinguished by intangible, inner qualities (grace, excellence, elegance, and morality).
While new practices and fashions were developed to attain the body beautiful, the culture of beauty was subject to intense scrutiny by Enlightenment philosophers across Europe and other parts of the world who sought to better understand how humans learn and how they might improve themselves and human society. Writers on aesthetics attempted to capture the nature of beauty, and artists extolled the virtues of creating it.
In a booming print culture, the new ideals of beauty were generated by philosophers and aestheticians, artists and sculptors, physicians and anatomists, novelists and poets, producers and advertisers of cosmetics and accessories, and ordinary men and women, Drawing on both visual and textual sources, A Cultural History of Beauty in the Age of Enlightenment presents an overview of the period and examines key cultural case studies on the themes of ideas of beauty; art and beauty; beauty, ugliness, and ideas of
difference; nakedness and beauty; grooming and hygiene; making the body beautiful; material culture, clothing, and consumer practices; and desire, sexuality, and beauty.