He is literature's most eligible¹ bachelor: handsome, wealthy, and the inspiration for countless² romantic spin-offs in the last 200 years.

 

他是文学史上最完美的钻石王老五，既英俊又富有，并在过去两百年间启发人们创作了无数浪漫剧作。
 

 

Fans of the brooding Mr Darcy, then, may wish to look away now.

 

For leading academics have researched how Mr Darcy was likely to really have looked, and the results are a far cry from the tall, dark and handsome leading man fans may have imagined.

 

In fact, a real-life Mr Darcy of his day was more likely to have a long nose, pointed³ chin, powdered white hair and pale complexion⁴, according to historians.

 

The team, led by Professor John Sutherland, have now unveiled what they claim to be the "first historically accurate portrait" of Mr Darcy.

 

They did so by looking into the "scraps⁵" of description that writer Jane Austen provided for her famous character, portrayed⁶ in countless TV adaptations of Pride And Prejudice.

 

Austen's relationships and the men who may have inspired her character and the socio-economic, cultural and lifestyle factors of the time were also factored in by the experts.

 

Her romances have been well-documented over the centuries with possible influences including the 1st Earl of Morley John Parker and Thomas Lefroy.

 

Both men sported powdered hair and had long youthful faces with pale complexions⁷.

 

Other noblemen at the time, including Horatio Nelson, Leveson Gower and Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, all also had similar features and were considered the pin-ups and sex symbols of their time.

 

The team subsequently concluded that, unlike Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen's depictions of Mr Darcy, he would have had slender, sloping shoulders and a modestly-sized chest. A muscular chest and broad shoulders would have been the sign of a labourer, not a gentleman, at the time.

 

His powdered mid-length white hair, meanwhile, would frame a long oval face and small mouth, a long nose, a pointy chin and a pale complexion.

 

Large thighs⁸ and calves⁹ completed the look, while, at around 5ft 11in, the fictional¹⁰ character was slightly smaller than the stars who have played him.

 

Presenter¹¹ Amanda Vickery, Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary University of London, who also worked on the research, said: "As Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice in the 1790s, our Mr Darcy portrayal¹² reflects the male physique and common features at the time.

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