Tea at Trianon: Beards of Mythical Proportions

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Beards of Mythical Proportions

From ArtNet:

Something strange is afoot—or rather, a-face. You man have gotten a glimpse of one via Zoom. Maybe you are living with one. Or maybe you yourself are cultivating one. We speak, of course, of a “quarantine beard.” Unable to visit the barber shop, and unable—or not disposed—to shave their face, the nation’s gents have taken a turn for the hirsute.

The trend is anything but fringe. Speaking to Wired earlier this month, Christopher Oldstone-Moore, author of Of Beard and Men: The Revealing History of Facial Hair said one impetus could be psychological. “It can be a sort of declaration of fortitude and heartiness,” he told the magazine. “It’s a way of saying, ‘I’m tough. I can withstand adversity.’” Whatever the reason, we’ve taken inspiration from the some beard-spiration from art history, from Hatchepsut’s false facial hair to the flowing tresses of Michelangelo’s Moses. (Read more.)

julygirl said...: As a woman I do not mind beards which in some cases even enhance the man's face. What I do detest is the scruffy need a shave look that has become the style. Recently, I was watching a Turner Classic film and wondered why the men appeared to be so much more handsome when I realized they were all clean shaven.; May 28, 2020 at 9:35:00 PM EDT