Helen of Troy and the Perception of Beauty

Helen of Troy through the eyes of Frederick Augustus Sandys, 1860s

In the 1860s the British artist Frederick Augustus Sandys finished his painting of Helen of Troy — his version of Helen of Troy, that is. In it we see a young woman with wavy, flaming red hair and a morose expression, her anger boiling close to the surface. She looks more Celtic than Medi…