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Light as Glamour: The Luminescent Ideal of Beauty in the Roman de la Rose

This study examines the secular side of the aesthetic of luminescence, as found in the thirteen-century Roman de la Rose. I compare this work's descriptive images with documents such cosmetic manuals and royal sumptuary laws. This kind of comparison brings into relief the material importance of light-producing attire in this period. Since appearance is a component of constructs of gender and social status, comparing such sources also gives insight into contemporary aspirations and anxieties concerning ascension of the social hierarchy and relations between the sexes: men are revealed to have shopped for luminescence as much as women.