When the smile came to painting—and public life - Pictures - The Boston Globe

A look at the act of smiling in European portraiture.

Jusepe de Ribera, "Club-footed Boy," 1637

Before the 18th century, most smiles in European paintings were hardly attractive. In this painting of a Spanish peasant boy, a smile revealed poorly maintained teeth.
Hyacinthe Rigaud, "Louis XIV," 1701

In the context of art, the gesture often indicated condescension or scorn, says Colin Jones, the author of “The Smile Revolution in Eighteenth Century Paris.”
FRANÇOIS BOUCHER, "Madame de Pompadour at Her Toilette," 1758

When smiles are seen, they are restrained and do not show teeth.

Thomas Rowlandson, "Transplantation of Teeth," 1787

One of the principal factors behind the emergence of the smile in art was the improvement in dental care.
Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, self-portrait, 1786

The other factor, according to Jones, was the cult of sensibility. “I associate this particularly with the emergence of the novels of sentimentality and sensibility by Samuel Richardson and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who emphasize the overt and public expression of feelings, rather than their repression or distortion.”