Researchers have created the first “historically accurate portrayal” of Mr. Darcy, commissioned by British TV channel Drama. The ideal English gentleman in the 1790s would have had pale skin, a long nose, a pointed chin, and sloping shoulders. Darcy would have had very muscular thighs and calves due to fencing and horse riding.
Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy has long had a reputation as one of English literature’s most eligible bachelors. Many have imagined the brooding Fitzwilliam Darcy as tall, dark and handsome, a wealthy and aristocratic protagonist loved by generations of readers. In the film adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, he has been played by Laurence Olivier (1940) and Matthew Macfadyen (2005). And who can forget Colin Firth’s portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC miniseries. But now, in a study commissioned by British TV channel Drama, researchers have pieced together the first “historically accurate portrayal” of Mr. Darcy. And surprisingly, they say it probably wasn’t all that “strong,” at least by 21st century standards. In the 1790s, the ideal English gentleman usually would have had pale skin, a long nose, a pointed chin, and sloping shoulders. Instead of dark wavy hair, he would most likely have powdered his hair white or worn a powdered wig.
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“There are only bits of physical description of Fitzwilliam Darcy to be found in Pride and Prejudice,” says John Sutherland, the academic who led the study. “He IS our most mysterious and desirable protagonist of all time”.
Nick Hardcastle, an illustrator for the project, says Darcy would have had very muscular thighs and calves due to all the time the gentlemen spent fencing and riding horses.
“The character of Darcy was tantalised for modern audiences with a boisterous injection of testosterone and a simmering romance,” says Amanda Vickery, historian at Queen Mary University of London.
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