Why did people in the last few centuries?

Question

have different looking bodies& faces to what we have today? Like longer bodies, bigger eyes etc... I noticed this from paintings etc... also some of the ladies have huge hips and most women just have average hips today. why such a marked difference? Is there any reason for this?

Answer 1

Body shapes and sizes over the centuries have changed dramatically . Most women a few hudred years ago were tiny and very petite in comparison to women now. This is largely due to lifestyle changes, technology, changes in diet and eating habits.

Answer 2

Most women were actually not so different from today except that men chose women partly on their childbearing abilities.

Larger hips then was a sign of easier childbirth.

Artists were paid to make women look slimmer and more attractive.

In actual fact many of the portraits of the nobility and royalty made them look better by not including the obvious scars from smallpox,syphilis etc.

Painting were often used when arranging marriages and this involved huge dowries paid usually to the husband.

So the paintings accentuated the better features and left some out.

People were generally much shorter and only very rich people were overweight.

Answer 3

The painters just sucked.

Many women of the nobility used to wear body-shaping clothing in order to look more attractive. Notably, there were corsets, which make the waist appear narrower while the bust is accentuated, as well as dresses that pushed out sharply at the hips. It was entirely artificial, and had nothing to do with actual body shape as determined by genetics.

Answer 4

Beds surviving from centuries ago (in museums, historic castles etc.) were shorter than today  -  because so were the people.  Also today's children may be taller because of better nutrition and greater knowledge than was available before. My children are all taller than me, which I attribute to nutritional awareness.  There is also much more variety available now than say during the war years or during recession times, and better education means we all know more about what is good for us.  So we should be healthier and longer-living too, and a lot of us are.

As for portraits from long ago, it was considered a sign of prosperity if your wife was well-fed looking, perhaps a little overweight  -  so portraits may have exaggerated the reality .....