She was the 18th century celebrity who made men faint in awe of her beauty by her very presence. But her beauty - and her vanity - led to her demise as the lead-based make-up she insisted on plastering on daily resulted first in the loss of her looks, then deadly blood poisoning. Now the grand 7ft mirror in which Maria Gunning, the former Countess of Coventry, admired her stunning reflection has been auctioned off for more than £300,000. Labelled the first victim of vanity, Maria died aged 27 in 1760 after her love of make-up resulted in her untimely death. The 253-year-old mirror sold well above its estimate even though her condition meant she the society hostess used it for a matter of just months. A glorious George II giltwood overmantel design, it was bought for her by her husband The Sixth Earl of Coventry in 1759, who is said to have been so frustrated by his wife's love of make up that he would chase her around the dinner table with a handkerchief, trying wipe it from her face.
PAWS for thought as you feast your eyes on this rare bear bathing session .
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ROLLING around in the snow, these young brown bears take a break from their play fight to share a tender hug with one another .
An obese woman has lost 9st after an addiction to junk food left her £1 .
THIS RING of fire in the sky is the annular solar eclipse that wowed our cousins down-under .
In June 2023, Aimee da Cunha, 33, from Perth, Australia, was boiling potatoes on the stove when her two-year-old daughter, Hailey, knocked the pan of water over her .
VIBRANT bursts of colour fill the screen as beautiful flowers blossom in these time-lapse videos .