How to be a Renaissance Woman: The Untold History of Beauty and Female Creativity (Paperback) - Jill Burke

Beauty, make up, power: plunge into the intimate history of cosmetics

*A Waterstones Best Book of 2023* *A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week* *A New York Times Editor's Pick* 'Terrific' SARAH DUNANT 'Lively and intriguing ... You'll never look at Renaissance portraits in the same way' MAGGIE O'FARRELL 'Highlights a rich tapestry of female experience that encompasses everyone from artisans to aristocrats ...' THE TIMES This is the story of the Renaissance, but not as you know it. Discover overlooked and silenced women from this extraordinary moment in history and how they forged opportunities for creativity, community and resistance. From the bedchamber to the court, they give us an intimate window into what life was really like - and hold a mirror up to our contemporary obsession with how we look. 'A witty and engaging history of cosmetics and beauty ... lavishly illustrated and hugely entertaining' IRISH TIMES 'A total eye-opener, I loved it' NUALA McGOVERN

About the Author

Professor Jill Burke is Chair of Renaissance Visual and Material Cultures at the University of Edinburgh. She has published widely on the history of art, gender and the body. She is currently Principal Investigator of a Royal Society-funded project, Renaissance Goo, working with a soft-matter scientist to remake sixteenth-century cosmetic and skincare recipes. She was on the curatorial team of The Renaissance Nude exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Royal Academy, London in 2018-19. Her first book, Changing Patrons, questions the motivations behind Italian Renaissance art patronage and her second, The Italian Renaissance Nude, was nominated as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2019.