The old joke states that once the New York Times has reported on a trend, it’s safe to say it’s over. Consider, for example, their profile of influencer Clavicular, a Looksmaxxing fashionista who “believes that every step towards enhancing his beauty is virtuous.” About a month later, the young man was arrested in Florida with a battery charge, which feels like a token death for Looksmaxxing. What self-respecting advocate of human beauty would consider a trip to Florida?
A new exhibition at Bozar in Brussels, “Bellezza e Bruttezza”, would argue that Looksmaxxing was always impossible, since you cannot separate beauty from its counterpart. The exhibition brings together over 90 works from the late 15th to the 16th century, including works by Sandro Botticelli, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder AND Quinten Metsys obtained from more than 60 lenders, including the Uffizi, the Louvre, the Vatican Museums and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
Curated by Rabbi Chiara Bernardthe show examines how the standards of beauty and ugliness evolved together. This thesis is embodied in the work of da Vinci Grotesque head of a woman in profile (circa 1490-1500). It’s just the size of a playing card, done with a subtle touch of light sepia ink, but it’s memorable. Da Vinci considered these drawings “visi monstrousi”, and the old woman looks like a goblin, with her nose so swollen that it is more of a snout. The folds around its map mean it can open up to devour you. These works were instantly popular and, as the catalog points out, da Vinci was not trying to mock or caricature his subjects. He drew them because they have power. They are compelling and magnetic, which is the key quality, whether we are discussing ugliness or beauty.
Lucas Cranach the Elder painted more than 40 versions of couples with what we might today call problematic age gaps, where an older man addresses a younger woman as she lightens his bag. Three of those works appear in this show, the most prominent of which is Unaccompanied couple (younger and older guy) (c. 1520-1522), one of only three times he reversed the script. With only three teeth in her mouth, the titular old woman smiles at the young man and fills his hand with coins. In this painting, the greatest beauty can be found in her bag.
The poster image for the show is Frans Floris de VriendtS ‘ Pomona (1565). It’s a scene from Ovid metamorphosiscontent Pomona in the bounty of her orchard, her bosom not bountiful but fertile, her skin as plump as the fruit that surrounds her. She is in the process of rejecting the greedy Pan, whose face is not so different from da Vinci’s old wife. The play seems to suggest that while beauty and ugliness are both compelling, the former can be defined by the rejection of the latter.
“Bellezza e Bruttezza: The Ideal, the Real, and the Caricature in the Renaissance” is on view at Bozar in Brussels until June 14, 2026.
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