Facing Decay

The pursuit of youth and beauty transcends time periods. As now, women in the early modern period also sought to turn back the clock using cosmetic recipes promising beauty and clear, younger-looking skin.

Facing Decay systematically examines early modern visual art, anti-aging recipes, and a range of other writings to investigate the period’s obsession with youth and beauty—and the corollary anxiety about age and decay. It provides the first examination of not only why but how early modern women sought to fight the appearance of old age. Author Erin Griffey argues that youthful skin was not simply a cosmetic pursuit; it was regarded as a signal of health, and thus beauty regimens intersected with medical practice. She takes beauty and its decay seriously and links therapeutic cosmetics to not only medical knowledge but also scientific ingenuity, social benefit, and cultural agency.

This interdisciplinary book negotiates both the representations and the practical applications of beauty culture in early modern Europe through the history of art, society, medicine, and science. It is a fascinating and frequently surprising work that should appeal to anyone interested in the history of women, aging, medicine, beauty culture, and beauty recipes.

Through a careful exploration of the ways beauty was represented and practiced, and how these ideas were transmitted and exchanged in recipes, Griffey offers a new and exciting way to explore the beauty recipes of the period

Griffey considers the historical perceptions and cultural constructions of aging alongside essential primary sources, including medical-scientific theory and practice and printed and manuscript recipe collections.

With a broad geographical and temporal focus, the book also contributes to discussions about the transmission of medical advice and the marketing of appearance medicine, and the longue durée of beauty ideals and concerns.