Classic Beauty
This bust of Nefertiti is one of the most famous examples of classic beauty. Wife to the pharoah, Akhenaten, her name means “the beautiful (or perfect) woman has come”.
We can see why she was so named. Note the symmetry of the face, the distance between the eyes and their shape are both perfect. High cheekbones and a well-shaped mouth add to the classic ideal of beauty. But notice also what she has done to emphasize her natural attributes.
The eyebrows are soft arches in a natural line. They are neither too thick and bushy nor are they pencil thin and sharply angled. The high cheekbones are emphasized with a deeper shade of makeup under the ridge. Slight shadows in the crease of the eyelid make the eyes appear deeper. Eyeliner was popular in Egypt and Nefertiti made good use of it, lining both the upper and lower lids; defining the eyes and emphasing their shape. The lips are stained with a berry red.
The Egyptians were some of the most ardent and artful masters of makeup the world has known. Although the images we often see appear to be overstated in the use of makeup, this bust of Nefertiti was used by the scupltor as a guide for creating official portraits and was not itself for display. Therefore, this is most likely to be a true representation of one of the most famous faces of all history.
[...] It is for this reason that we can be fairly certain that the pharoah and his wife, Nefertiti, are accurately portrayed by their artists. And Akhenaton looked weird, to say the least. His body was pear-shaped and his limbs thin and elongated; his face too was long and narrow. There has been much speculation on the cause of these apparent deformities, most settling for Marfan’s Syndrome, a genetic disorder that fits closely with what we observe. [...]
By Akhenaten and Nefertiti ยป Great Romances - Past and Present on November 4th, 2006 at 6:15 pm