Skip to main content
Portrait of a light-skinned white girl with curly hair, a bandana, and a white blouse.
Cropped portrait of a light-skinned German noble, by Matthaeus Merian the Younger (1648).

White skin is noted as "pure" in a book on engraving, and influences cosmetics and whitening products.

Date: 1598

The Story of The Colonizer Wound
HISR
BEAU
Cropped portrait of a light-skinned German noble, by Matthaeus Merian the Younger (1648).

The book, published in England, prefaces "white skin as pure," simple, and demonstrating "elation of the mind." Red cheeks signify blushing, meaning "modesty and shame." Blush cosmetic products begin to emerge alongside whitening products.