The bearded woman who became the most unusual model of the 17th century artists

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

It is difficult to imagine how a woman with such an unusual appearance could survive in the 17th century. It is all the more surprising that Barbara van Beck achieved success, became famous and even posed for artists.

Barbara Ursler was born in Augsburg (Bavaria) in 1629. When she was still a baby, a beard began to grow on her face. It started from the eyebrows and ended under the chin, hiding the forehead, cheeks and nose with thick light brown hair.

Researchers believe that Barbara had a very rare congenital condition known as hypertrichosis. History knows a lot of people, more often men, whose face is completely overgrown with hair.

In the 17th century, the lot of unusual people, such as a bearded woman, was only one - to participate in the circus in the role of a "monster". Parents gave their daughter to participate in entertainment shows in order to earn money.

Barbara's professional activities were very much connected with her personal life. She married the Dutchman Johan Michael van Beck, who later became her manager. Evil tongues claimed that he married only to "show her" to the world and make money on it. Nevertheless, the couple had a joint child, who, fortunately, did not inherit the mother's illness.

Barbara van Beck spent 30 years on tour throughout Europe as part of a traveling circus. Historical evidence suggests that over the years she became a real celebrity and became famous. The tour gave the woman financial independence, she received an education, learned several languages, learned to play the harpsichord. She was known in many countries, and she used this fame to her advantage.

But the most amazing thing is that the artists painted portraits from her, and the engravers carved her images.

In the portraits, a woman appears in glamorous silk dresses in the poses of representatives of the upper classes. Her clothes are made according to the latest fashion, emphasizing her femininity without trying to make fun of her. These are beautiful high-quality canvases and prints, and not caricatures of a freak at all.

More recently, a previously unknown portrait of Barbara van Beck was discovered. It was painted by an Italian artist in the late 1640s, when a bearded woman visited Rome and Milan with a circus. The color image fully corresponds to the appearance of a bearded woman, which the English writer John Evelyn described in detail in his diary in 1657:

And history knows a few more "bearded" people, the most famous of whom Mexican "Lady Monkey" and "Hairy Kostroma" Fyodor Evtikheev.