On Ugliness & Beauty History

09/07/2026

Detail
Artwork: A Courtesan as Flora
Artist: Bartolomeo Veneto (Venetian, 1470–1531)
Created: c. 1518-30
Medium and Technicues: Tempera and oil on poplar panel
Dimensions: 44 x 35 cm
Location: Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Bartolomeo Veneto, who was active in Veneto and Lombardy, painted predominantly portraits and religious works. He managed to combine the various Italian styles with the Northern influences as few others were able. His prime abilities included a great flair for realism and an extraordinary attention to detail which enabled him to obtain numerous commissions from wealthy clients, particularly for his consummate portraits.

This panel, which bears the name of the ancient goddess of spring, Flora, is actually a portrait of an unknown young woman, often identified as the infamous Lucrezia Borgia, the daughter of Pope Alexander VI. The half-nude is portrayed against a black background in three-quarter profile, turning to the left but still maintaining eye contact with the viewer. She is dressed in a white tunic which exposes her left breast. In her upraised right hand she delicately holds a small bouquet of various flowers, composed of anemones, daisies, and buttercups, which she appears to offer the viewer with a self-assured gaze. (Wikipedia)
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08/19/2026

🔹Ugly 🔸
In this remarkably small painting, Brouwer brings the viewer abruptly face-to-face with a young man who hooks his fingers into the corners of his mouth and pulls it into an exaggerated grimace. A glass and earthenware jug sit before him, placing the encounter within the rough, convivial world of the tavern that Brouwer made particularly his own.

08/16/2026

Detail
Immortalized by Leonardo da Vinci in a 15th-century portrait now housed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Ginevra de’ Benci was a celebrated beauty of the Italian Renaissance.

05/25/2026

The profile format was popular for bridal portraits in the fifteenth century. Some say this is because of the influence of the Renaissance interest in antiquity (ancient Roman coins and medals, studied at the time, depicted rulers in profile). The profile is also the best way to view someone's physical features. Poetry written by the fourteenth-century writer Petrarch described the ideal woman and her beauty: the ideal woman had blonde hair (which was often dyed), a high forehead (often created by plucking hairs from the hairline with tweezers), pale skin, and a long neck. People in the Renaissance believed that a woman's physical characteristics were a reflection of her beauty on the inside.

The Ideal Woman
Jamilah
February 17, 2012
2 min. read
Master of the Castello Nativity (Italian, Florentine, active ca. 1445–75). Portrait of a Woman, probably 1450s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 (49.7.6)

05/18/2026

05/18/2026

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