From the poet Laura Battiferri to the naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian, history has long tied female intellectual brilliance to an unattractive appearance. But what if 'ugliness' was not a curse, but a strategy? This groundbreaking study is the first to critically explore how literary and painted portraits of women in science and the arts - including philosopher Marie de Gournay and painter Rosalba Carriera - challenged conventions by deliberately staging unconventional beauty as a tool of emancipation. The book exposes the hidden negotiations between appearance, intellectual legitimacy, and artistic ambition in early modern Europe. Through vivid case studies, it uncovers the interplay between gender, the body, and creative genuineness, revealing how these remarkable women redefined female authority on their own terms.

• Innovative insights into female agency
• A feminist perspective on the portrait genre
• Current investigations into the 'unattractive' intellectual