Portraits are the Original Photo Filters. What did People from the Past REALLY look like?
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0:00 This Portrait is Hiding Something
1:46 Portrait Art Through Time
5:05 Decoding Art’s Messages
7:32 I Place Myself into Historical Portraits
Sources
The Royal Portrait - Image and Impact by Jennifer Scott
https://bigthink.com/high-culture/por...
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/por...
https://www.chairish.com/blog/complet...
https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/202...
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/car...
What Old Portraits Are Hiding: The Original Photo Filters
Portraits from history often hide more than they reveal. A striking example is the portrait of Isabella de Medici, nearly removed from the Carnegie Museum Collection because it was suspected to be a modern fake. The reason? The facial style seemed inconsistent with Renaissance art, leading experts to doubt its authenticity. However, investigations using x-ray imagery uncovered that an art restorer in the 1800s had altered the portrait to suit contemporary tastes. The changes included smoothing Isabella’s face, making her nose, lips, and hands more delicate, essentially giving her a historical “airbrushing.” After removing these alterations, the museum restored the painting to its original form, exposing the true likeness of Isabella de Medici.
The case of Isabella's portrait raises broader questions: What else are old portraits hiding? Why do so many historical portraits look so similar, and do they truly represent the people they depict? It turns out that like today’s photo filters, portraits were often manipulated to conform to the beauty standards of their time.
When viewing old portraits, several questions can help decode their hidden messages:
Symbols and Status: What symbols did the artist include to convey the subject’s role? For example, distinguishing between a queen and a lady-in-waiting often comes down to the details of their dress, the objects they hold, and the scale of the painting.
Audience and Setting: Where was the portrait intended to hang, and who was the audience? Portraits meant for private viewing often differ significantly in tone and style from those intended for public display.
Artist’s Intentions: What were the artist’s personal aspirations? Some artists, like Francisco Goya, used their portraits to subtly critique their subjects, reflecting personal biases or political sentiments.
Cultural Beauty Standards: What did the sitter and their culture consider beautiful? Portraits of women were especially susceptible to idealization, with beauty standards often dictating the features that were enhanced or downplayed.
To illustrate how beauty standards influenced portraiture, I've inserted my own face into portraits from three distinct eras: the Tudor era, the late 1600s Early Modern period, and 1700s French portraiture, each reflecting different ideals of beauty.
These historical “airbrushing” techniques were not unlike modern photo filters. Even the most iconic portraits, like those of Marie Antoinette, were idealized. Comparisons with her death mask, taken shortly after her execution, reveal notable differences: her portraits showed a more chiseled nose, larger eyes, and a softer face shape than her actual features.
The influence of beauty standards on portraiture has persisted into the modern era. Just as artists in the past tweaked portraits to conform to cultural ideals, today’s photo filters continue this tradition, subtly altering our images to fit contemporary aesthetics.
Conclusion
Portraits from history are not always accurate depictions of their subjects; rather, they reflect the cultural values, artistic intentions, and beauty ideals of their time. While they provide valuable insights into historical appearances, they also remind us that the desire to present an idealized self is a timeless human impulse. Understanding this helps us view these images with a critical eye, recognizing both the artistry and the subtle deceptions they contain.
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