The Smile Revolution

On the cover of this entertaining and highly readable work of cultural history relating to 18th-century Paris there is a reproduction of painting by Madame Vigée Lebrun depicting herself smiling and holding her daughter. Little would the unsuspecting reader think that such a painting could have caused such a scandal in the salon of 1787 because the artist was smiling and showing her teeth. It was literally frowned upon to smile, especially if one came from a more aristocratic background and was following the example of Louis XIV. One discovers that there is a very good reason for this protocol, namely that, under what the author calls the old regime of teeth, most people lost them before the age of 40 – hence the politeness of 'facial immobility'. This included the king himself, portrayed (toothless) by Rigaud around 1700.

All this changed during the 18th century as people came to express their feelings in a new way and the 'smile of sensibility' was born along with scientific dentistry. The pioneer here was Pierre Fauchard, born in 1678 and who produced his Magnum Opus in 1728, initiating an era of professional dentistry beyond itinerant tooth pullers. It is astonishing to learn that the only previous systematic works dated back to 1679 and 1582. Paris became the centre not only of culture, but also of dentistry, at least up to the French Revolution. The Terror literally wiped the smile off people's faces and professional dentists disappeared; over time, the white-toothed smile became a feature of feminine beauty while men remained of more serious demeanour. Initially, the development of photography required such long exposures that the smile is less common, but one does see it in portraits of Emerson, for example. This is the benign smile rather than the earlier French smile of disdain. And even in our own time, the smile is highly profitable for the dental industry. This entertaining and instructive book opens up a surprising cultural history not only of the smile but also of the expression of emotions.