Historian Professor Jill Burke of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology (HCA) and soft matter scientist Professor Wilson Poon of the Institute for Condensed Matter and Complex Systems brought their expertise together to explore the history and science of Renaissance-era cosmetics, and investigate the viability of reviving cosmetic recipes from the era for today’s consumer.

Before the nineteenth century, people would make many personal care items – from toothpaste, to deodorant, to lipstick – at home. Thousands of recipes for these items still exist today, but their lack of detail and an assumption of the reader’s technical know-how makes them very difficult for us to recreate.

Potions from the past 

Professor Jill Burke is a cultural historian concerned with the body and its visual representation, and part of her work traces current attitudes to our bodies and personal care to the Renaissance period. In an effort to show that our modern culture has lessons to learn from Renaissance women, their interest in experimentation, and their use of natural ingredients to create personal care products at home, Professor Burke wanted to recreate some of the recipes from Giovanni Marinello’s Adornment of Ladies (1562) the first largescale printed beauty manual aimed at a female audience and a huge bestseller in Renaissance Europe.  

In order to analyse the material properties of these recipes from a different point of view, Professor Burke initiated a collaboration with eminent soft matter scientist Professor Wilson Poon. Professor Poon’s work straddles physics, chemistry and biology, and following a successful proof of concept experiment to recreate a sunscreen recipe from Adornment of Ladies containing mastic and olive oil, the research team decided to collaborate on a wider project to investigate sixteenth-century cosmetics and personal care recipes through their diverse disciplinary lenses. 

Uncovering history’s beauty secrets 

The “Renaissance Goo: Historic Personal Care Recipes and Soft Matter Science” project was funded by an APEX grant from the Royal Society. An unusual combination of disciplines and expertise, the project gave both researchers the opportunity to apply their knowledge in new areas and bring mainstream attention to their disciplines. A motivation from the start of the project was to use the considerable public interest in cosmetics and beauty to generate greater interest in both early modern women’s history and soft matter science. Professors Burke and Poon designed their project to bridge the gap between the historical context of personal care recipes and their potential applications today, both academically and commercially. In exploring these historical recipes through the lens of soft matter science, they saw the potential to uncover new, sustainable methods and materials for modern use. 

While the few previous academic studies of historic cosmetics had been focused on social and literary understandings of the phenomenon, Professors Burke and Poon wanted to conduct an investigation of cosmetics and personal care from the maker’s point of view, and to gain an understanding of the ‘tacit knowledge’ behind these recipes. The research team had access to a wealth of sixteenth century personal care recipes, and from 1,400 the team refined their selection to 20 skin and haircare-related recipes using robust criteria that took into account safety, sustainability, palatability, and scientific interest. Most historical reconstruction teams to date had involved historians working with analytical chemists, but Burke and Poon’s unique combination of expertise allowed them to focus on the texture, feel and flow of ingredients as well as the contexts in which the products were used, all of which had a significant impact on their findings.  

Alchemy of expertise 

The Renaissance Goo project proved tremendously valuable for both Professor Burke and Professor Poon and made clear the value of interdisciplinary exchange. Having confronted their respective lack of expertise in the other’s subject area, as well as their unfamiliarity in disciplinary conventions and working patterns, the research team were then able to move forward with the work and yield significant impact. 

Burke and Poon discovered that some of the ingredients employed in the early modern period, such as sheep’s tallow and mastic, may have applications for personal care today and could inform the formulation of more sustainable cosmetic products. These historical materials could offer sustainable alternatives due to their natural origins and the sophisticated ways they were used historically for skincare benefits. Ongoing experiments are investigating their contemporary applications, which may lead to more environmentally friendly product options in the cosmetic industry. 

As a result of their collaboration, Burke and Poon were commissioned to develop an installation based on their findings as part of the Cult of Beauty exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London, which ran between October 2023 and April 2024. Working with the artist team, Baum & Leahy, the result was the Beauty Sensorium, a multi-sensory installation where visitors would experience the sounds and smells of Renaissance cosmetics making, and see first-hand how cosmetic samples made from ingredients including mutton fat, mastic gum and rose water would move and transform when animated by stirring or heat. As well as providing a rich sensorial insight into the past, the installation contributed to a greater public understanding of both early modern science and women’s history. The exhibition garnered significant public interest, with c. 150,000 visitors. 

Further reading

The Renaissance Goo project