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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33020
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The previous answers on here seem to assert that a corpse could not possibly be beautiful due to the physiological processes that occur at or shortly after death. I would argue that these have little to do with your first question -- since we don't know the context of the scene, there is no way to decide whether or not a corpse could be beautiful. In order to avoid people just deciding that I would also caution against using in your description "Imagine _you're_ a protagonist..." if you want answers to your initial question, because as the previous answers stated most normal, rational self-insert characters wouldn't arrive at any kind of beautiful. However, for example, if rather than oneself being the protagonist, this story takes place on an alien planet where dead creatures turn into diamonds, or the corpse was arranged by elves in a field of wildflowers, or your protagonist works at a morgue or is a serial killer who digs this kind of thing, there are situations where the protagonist could totally find the corpse beautiful.

Okay, so back to the initial question. I don't think this is a word or set of words kind of deal. It would be difficult for most characters to process, I think. If I were writing a protagonist who had reason to find the corpse's face beautiful, I would probably dedicate at least a paragraph or two to the details because this is something that would definitely hold all their attention if they came across it. Things like the pallor, blood, and pose could be described in some sort of "positive" light. Gray complexion could look like "slate," teeth could appear especially white when set against blue lips, veins showing through the skin could be described as cracks in the face of an antique china doll, strong features like jawline and overall shape would show through any blood on the face. Does the protagonist interact with the corpse, i.e. to check if it's alive or see who it is? If so then you've got another bunch of details - how the hair feels between their fingers, smell (probably wouldn't be pleasant in any context, but maybe the protagonist is able to look past it because they're so struck by this person), light hitting any jewelry when moved. Maybe a good way to show the protagonist finds them beautiful is to have them speculate about what they might have been like in life.

Other things to consider:

- did the protagonist know this person?

- does the corpse remind them of anyone important to them?

- how long have they been dead and what were the circumstances of death?
- how urgent is the protagonist's situation in this scene? (Ie do they have time to stop and really really examine, or must they hurry away?)

Hope this is helpful, good luck with your writing.

Original score: 6