We Compared Paintings and Photos of Legendary Women From the 19th Century, and Now We Know All About Victorian-Era Photoshop

Curiosities
7 months ago

When we scroll through our social media feeds, we see hundreds of photos processed with photo editors. However, people tried to make their pictures look better in the past too. Though back then, retouching was done by portrait painters. So, we decided to compare paintings and photographs depicting legendary women of the 19th century.

Caroline Augusta of Bavaria, Empress of Austria

Paul Lambert
7 months ago

There's nothing denoting how many years passed between the painting and the photograph, if any.

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Mandy Smith
7 months ago

Nose has been thinned in the painting and an eyebrow tidy...but in most of these photos the women were not smiling, which completely changes your face

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Marietta Alboni, Italian opera singer

Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Empress of Germany

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

Carolina Coronado, Spanish writer

Mandy Smith
7 months ago

Apart from maybe an eyebrow tidy....not much looks to of been done here....this is not a vain woman, this lady is happy with people seeing her true self likeness, to right good on her as for an obviously middle aged woman she's actually very homely looking

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Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies, Empress of Brazil

Mandy Smith
7 months ago

The nose.... 😬although whhyy🤷🏻‍♀️ as her original was much prettier...a small pixie nose whereas in the painting they've made her look like a bloomin vulture 😬🤦🏻‍♀️.... Ladies annddd again ...always smile, just doing this changes how you look expediently 😊

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Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece.

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

Marie of Prussia, Queen of Bavaria

Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll

Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, the granddaughter of George III

Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans, Infanta of Spain

Isabella II, Queen 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

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

Elisabeth of Bavaria (Sissi), Empress of Austria

And here are famous people whose portraits don’t convey the whole reality. Check it out.

Preview photo credit Franz Schrotzberg / Dorotheum / Wikimedia Commons, deconhecido / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED, Georg Martin Ignaz Raab / Sisi Museum / Hofburg Palace / Wikimedia Commons, Carl Pietzner / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek / Wikimedia Commons

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Jen Gorsline
7 months ago

Other than them being black n white v color, I don't see the differences between these pictures. None of it looks like it was touched up. Nice pictures tho

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