Why did the standards of beauty change historically when it came to weight in women?
One of the examples people will give to point out that female beauty is not objective is the fact that during the Middle Ages, women who were chubby/obese were considered much more sexually desirable than thin women. Ever since the industrial revolution though, that has gone the opposite direction.
I've always thought that the reasons for this change actually stem from the same belief. Wealth. Is it possible that men today find chubby/obese women less attractive because most women tend to be of a lower socioeconomic background? In the past, being skinny meant you were probably an ordinary poor farmer, today it's usually the opposite. Though I know in many third world countries, some level of fat in a woman is still considered good because it signifies that you have enough more than enough money to eat.
Rubens' women are hardly fat at all. Just a little chubby.
Compared to the average American woman, they're downright athletic.
Ain't American great.
Rubens women were a little thicker than the average but his fame was at the height of Baroque Rococo style which emphasized excess - “grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, dynamism, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur distinctions between the various arts.”
Once that period ended with the trending of philosophies that led to the French Revolution, a more neo classical style came back into favor.
