So I kinda feel like if Elizabeth I wore lead-based makeup as much as it's said she did, she might have been dead long before the age of 69. I know the Countess of Coventry in 1760 died of lead and mercury poisoning from cosmetics when she was only 27 (maybe they were different 2 centuries later but idk). If Elizabeth was walking around caked in the stuff every day like we're led to think I just feel like she would have suffered a lot more serious effects way earlier??
That’s an interesting point. Certainly by her death there may be some signs that the chemicals in her makeup might have aggravated her condition (I know she had an ulcerated throat upon her death, most people ingest a little bit of the makeup they wear since it’s so close to your mouth, maybe this has something to do with it??? Idk someone who studied biology pls help lol)
I think people have this wild idea that Elizabeth wore makeup all day every day. I think it’s far more likely that she only put it on for state occasions and when she was on public display. The descriptions of her wearing it are all from when she would have been openly in court, not private meetings. Similarly really to the average woman today who wears foundation for special occasions.
I have the book Face Paint by Lisa Eldridge, a really fascinating book about the history of makeup. According to the book, lead was used as a whitening agent in makeup since the time of the Greeks so it was around for a centuries by the time Elizabeth got her hands on it. On the matter of Elizabethan makeup, a contemporary physician wrote
The Ceruse or white lead which women use to better their complexion is made of lead and vinegar which mixture is naturally a great drier; and is used by chirurgions [surgeons] to drie up moiste sores
I mean if nothing else it sounds like a wonder for oily skin lol.
But then Eldridge adds, “Giovanni Lomazzo-” that is, the guy above, “- goes on to describe the women who use ceruse as quickly becoming “withered and gray-headed. And there may have been other side effects: the fashion for high foreheads around this time could very well have been due to the fact that lead paint causd hair loss and bald patches. Women may have been forced to shave or pluck the remaining unsightly patches with the result that the hairline gradually moved backwards.”
Not sure about that because Elizabeth (and Robert for that matter) was described as having a high forehead even in her youth long before she touched makeup but nevertheless, we’ve established that Elizabeth never actually went completely bald and so this could imply that she didn’t wear the ceruse on a day to day basis.
Interestingly she has a two page spread comparing the cosmetics in Elizabeth and Lettice’s Knollys portraits! Here she writes, “In 1562, Elizabeth is known to have contracted smallpox, and the scars this left on her skin, along with the general effects of aging, led her to apply ceruse (in particular Venetian ceruse, which gave her an especially ghostly finish). Unfortunately, though a highly effective skin lightener, ceruse was also incredibly toxic and would have left Elizabeths’ skin looking gray and withered. Over time, Elizabeth would have needed to use more and more ceruse just to cover up the damage caused to her skin - and rouge too, to disguise the aging process.”
The important thing to note here is that Eldridge is entirely speculating - after all, she’s a makeup artists not a historian. And we know that Elizabeth was not as scarred by smallpox as is commonly believed but I’m willing to believe there would be some faint marks leftover. I still have some faint marks from acne and chicken pox. We don’t know the extent of the damage on Elizabeth’s skin by her makeup because no one really commented on it (perhaps no one dared to) - it’s likely it would have impacted her health in some way but I agree with you that if she was slathering it on as often and as much as it has usually been thought, she might have succumbed to the poison a long time ago.
Also, people like to focus so much on Elizabeth using this makeup. But fun fact, Catherine de Medici used the same type of makeup. People were not pointing and laughing at Elizabeth behind her back, this was a trend for noble women throughout Europe. Elizabeth just popularized it.
I’d highly recommend picking up this book because not only is it fascinating but when describing Elizabeth, Eldridge also emphasizes that a lot of the make up she wore had political motivations as much as it was vanity or a desire to look good.
