Renaissance Art History by historyofpainters.com
Paintings History Questions
In all of the famous paintings and drawings, why is everyone WHITE?
I have been studying art history and paintings, and I noticed a common theme. All of the pictures are of white skinned people. What do those artists thousands of years ago know that we do not? Why was white skin so beautiful, that they made Jesus, Mary, and everyone else pure white? What was different then, that we do not know now?
Well, for starters most of the painters were white, as were their customers, so the ethnicity of most of the subjects would be the same.
I don’t think that’s what you’re talking about, however. I think that you are asking why so many are pale white rather than the pinkish color that white people really are.
This is for reasons of fashion. Tan is now in, because it takes resources to tan – you have to travel to the beach, or go to a tanning salon. If you just work inside all day you will be lighter than if you are outside, and if you are outside chances are it’s for a leisure reason supported by resources.
Back then, almost everyone is Europe was tan, and often quite brown, because they worked outside most of the day. Only the very wealthy could afford large hats, gloves and parasols and remain indoors (in buildings comfortable enough to do so) for most of the day. Therefore, everyone wanted to look pale white (the opposite of a peasant).
They also wanted to be ultra sensitive (remember the fairy tale the Princess and the Pea? This is an exaggeration but it comes from the fact that real nobility was more sensitive because they slept on comfortable beds and sat on comfortable furniture wearing well-made clothes. Most people slept on straw mattresses on a bed of ropes, or just the mattress) and have very, very soft skin (a letter is preserved from Alexander Borgia, who was one of the most powerful men of the renaissance, to his son instructing him to put on gloves in Rome and not to take them off until he reached French to impress the French with his soft hands. This same son conquered much of Italy and was a generally violent guy, but he still wanted to look like he was so wealthy and had so many people to do things for him that never lifted a pen, let alone a sword).
People also wanted to be a bit fat. If you look in the same pictures, many of the women (esp.) are a bit rounder than would be fashionable now. This is because now it takes money and time and effort to be thin, and back then food was hard enough to get that it took wealth to be fat. Therefore, people wanted to be fat. “Rubenesque” is a euphemism for pudgy now because back when Reubens painted his women, their fat bottoms were the sexiest thing possible.
All of it (as with the desire to be fit and tan now), comes from the fact that the desired look took the most effort and cost the most money. By having that look, people were proclaiming their high socioeconomic status.
So, in short, painters wanted their subjects to be beautiful, and the standard then was white, white skin. So they gave it to them.
