Facing Decay

Beauty, Aging, and Cosmetics in Early Modern Europe

Erin Griffey (University of Auckland)

$216

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Pennsylvania State University Press
04 November 2025

European history; Early modern history: c 1450 to c 1700; Social & cultural history; Gender studies: women; Cosmetics, hair & beauty

The pursuit of youth and beauty transcends time periods. As now, women in the early modern period also sought to turn back the clock using cosmetic recipes promising beauty and clear, younger-looking skin.

Facing Decay systematically examines early modern visual art, anti-aging recipes, and a range of other writings to investigate the period’s obsession with youth and beauty—and the corollary anxiety about age and decay. It provides the first examination of not only why but how early modern women sought to fight the appearance of old age. Author Erin Griffey argues that youthful skin was not simply a cosmetic pursuit; it was regarded as a signal of health, and thus beauty regimens intersected with medical practice. She takes beauty and its decay seriously and links therapeutic cosmetics to not only medical knowledge but also scientific ingenuity, social benefit, and cultural agency.

This interdisciplinary book negotiates both the representations and the practical applications of beauty culture in early modern Europe through the history of art, society, medicine, and science. It is a fascinating and frequently surprising work that should appeal to anyone interested in the history of women, aging, medicine, beauty culture, and beauty recipes.

By: Erin Griffey (University of Auckland)
Imprint: Pennsylvania State University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 590g
ISBN: 9780271100227
ISBN 10: 0271100222
Pages: 274
Publication Date: 04 November 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Erin Griffey is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Auckland. She is the author of On Display: Henrietta Maria and the Materials of Magnificence at the Stuart Court and editor of Sartorial Politics in Early Modern Europe: Fashioning Women.

Reviews for Facing Decay: Beauty, Aging, and Cosmetics in Early Modern Europe

“Facing Decay deftly navigates Early Modern Europe’s cosmetic landscape, shedding a new, critical light on the practices and materials of beauty regimens. Erin Griffey offers an exciting and sophisticated analysis of the cultural meanings of feminine beauty and youth, revealing that cosmetics were medical, social, and cultural agents, not mere surface adornment. Tyrannical beauty regimes, we learn, are not exclusively modern phenomena. Much was at stake when Renaissance beauty was fashioned and displayed.” —Timothy McCall, author of Brilliant Bodies: Fashioning Courtly Men in Early Renaissance Italy