Some day I am going to properly articulate why period dramas have ruined people's ability to interact with historical portraits.
Short version: most historical figures look like pretty average people, because they are for the most part just some guy (gender neutral). They just don't stand up well to casting a whole show of people who are pretty by modern standards.
This is mostly in response to a rather persistent trend of "can you believe this person was considered handsome/beautiful at the time?"
When:
1. The person is not styled in a way that appeals to modern taste.
2. The style of portraiture diverges from photography, so it doesn't appeal to your sense of aesthetics.
3. You're comparing to an actor/actress who is very good looking by modern standards styled in a way that isn't really meant to challenge you.
4. They are average to good looking, but in a normal person way.
Our own media environment doesn't really leave much space for "good looking normal person" which is part of the issue.
4. They are average
to good looking, but in a
normal person way.
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.
I would also add
5. there were fewer accessible/safe/socially accepted ways to significantly alter aspects of one's appearance like facial features back then (illusory or permanent, ie contouring, plastic surgery, etc), so while beauty standards DID exist, people often had to adopt a more expansive idea of beauty if they wanted to like...have sexual or romantic relationships ever
can't kick and scream if someone isn't an Instragram model when cosmetic surgery is rudimentary at best and highly dangerous, and contour makeup is reserved for theatrical performances
(you see this a lot in 19th-century descriptions of beautiful women; many of them are kind of vague and focus more on Bright Eyes and Smooth Skin and Nice Hair than actually describing facial features in detail. they had beauty standards, as evidenced in paintings and sketches of idealized belles, but clearly not all of them were dealbreaker criteria)
