How To Look Like A Classical Painting Model

If you’ve ever had the privilege to stroll through the fabled halls of the Louvre, peruse the rooms of the National Portrait Gallery or get lost in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you’ve seen them. Rendered in oil, watercolor and tempera, these women haunt you in every art museum. They’re the models for classical paintings.

If the very sight of one of these enigmatic ladies fills you with nostalgia for a time before you were born, never fear: you can get their look with some carefully-chosen jewelry.

Step One: Pick Your Baubles

Most of the women whose pictures you see depicted in old paintings were of noble birth, or else they wouldn’t have had the money required to commission a portrait. As such, they were often decked out in their finest gems while sitting for their portraits. Choose a gold-chained pearl necklace and dainty pearl earrings for your own picture-perfect look.

Step Two: Pick Your Outfit

Now that you’ve got the jewelry down pat, it’s time to pick your clothing. Since you chose to go for some classy bling, you’ll probably want to avoid the medieval peasant chic that sometimes showed up in portraits from the era. Opt instead for a richly colored off-the-shoulder top—your clavicles will look especially dashing in the chiaroscuro lighting.

Step Three: Pick Your Artist

No matter your preference, there’s an artist for you. Want to be reinterpreted as a mythical goddess? Try a Botticelli impersonator. Prefer fading into the background? A Klimt disciple is just your guy. And never fear—with a Titian copycat, you won’t even have to wear clothes with that gold pearl necklace to your portrait sitting.

Why look like a tourist walking through a museum when you could look like you belong in a museum? Be the intriguing muse you’ve always wanted to be in a gold pearl necklace.

Craft a look good enough to frame with these jewels.