Beauty: The Body as Artefact

Historical Sources from Cicero to Goya

This book traces the history of physical beauty in Western art and thought from antiquity to the eighteenth century. Bringing together foundational texts and newly translated works accompanied by scholarly commentaries, this volume explores how the human body was understood as both a product of nature and an artistic creation.

Beauty: The Body as Artefact traces the history of physical beauty in Western art and thought from antiquity to the eighteenth century. Bringing together foundational texts and newly translated works accompanied by scholarly commentaries, this volume explores how the human body was understood as both a product of nature and an artistic creation.

Examining the intersections of aesthetics, art theory, medical practices and cosmetics, it reveals how ideals of beauty and beautification shaped conceptions of gender, the body and artistic creation. The book focuses on the early modern period, when the cosmetic transformation of the body became closely associated with artistic imagery and techniques. Drawing on art-historical, philosophical and cultural perspectives, the volume presents key writings by figures from Cicero and Alberti to Behn and Hogarth, highlighting shifting notions of imitation, ornament and naturalness.

Suitable for undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars in art history, cultural history and gender studies, Beauty: The Body as Artefact offers a framework for understanding physical beauty as a historical and artistic category at the intersection of image, body and knowledge.