We Compared Paintings and Photos of 19th-Century Icons, Proving Photoshop Isn’t a Modern Concept

Ever notice how your social media feed is packed with flawlessly edited photos? It turns out this obsession with picture-perfect portraits isn’t new and existed long before Photoshop and filters. Back then, people relied on talented painters to add extra magic to their faces, at least on canvas. We thought it would be fun to take a trip back in time and compare those old-school painted masterpieces with early photographs of iconic 19th-century women. Let’s see how the original “retouch artists” stack up.

Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the niece of Queen Victoria

Elisabeth of Bavaria (Sissi), Empress of Austria

Caroline Augusta of Bavaria, Empress of Austria

Carolina Coronado, Spanish writer

Marietta Alboni, Italian opera singer

Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece.

Maria of Nassau, mother of the first Queen Elisabeth of Romania

Marie of Prussia, Queen of Bavaria

Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans, Infanta of Spain

Louise Rasmussen, the Danish ballet dancer and wife of King Frederick VII of Denmark

Maria Van Zandt, American opera singer

Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, the queen consort and wife of King Ferdinand VII of Spain

Isabella II, Queen of Spain

Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies, Empress of Brazil

Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll

Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, the granddaughter of George III

Rani Lakshmibai, queen consort of the princely state of Jhansi, India; also a freedom fighter

Louisa of the Netherlands, the wife of Charles XV of Sweden, Queen of Sweden

Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Empress of Germany

Florence Nightingale

Meanwhile, here’s another famous face from our century who seems to be aging in reverse, going sans makeup on red carpets.