Naked females have been a source of inspiration for thousands of artists. Sometimes religious and sacred, others Libertine and sensual.
In modern times, depicting a nude woman in painting was considered to be extremely provocative unless she was an ancient goddess. Manet radically broke this tradition with his two paintings Olympia and Dejeuner sur l’herbe.
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus
One of the most famous paintings in art history, The Birth of Venus, was painted by Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli during his peak artistic fame in the mid-1480s. Commissioned by Lorenzo de Medici, the ruler of Florence, this painting symbolizes ancient mythology within a context of humanistic Renaissance art. It was the climax of the revival of these ancient stories by Quattrocento humanist thinkers like philosopher Marcilio Ficino, who viewed Venus as both the celestial goddess of love and beauty and the earthly goddess of procreation.
The painting shows Venus, naked and stepping out of a shell drifting to land on the shore. She is adorned with roses and other flowers floating down from the sky. To her left is the wind god Zephyr blowing on her, and to her right a female figure holding out a richly embroidered cloak to cover her, possibly representing one of the Horae or Hours, Greek minor goddesses of the seasons (the floral decoration suggests she may be the Hora of Spring).
Botticelli was inspired by Classical statues for his pose of Venus, which was modest at a time when depiction of nude women was rare. He modeled her face after a Roman marble sculpture called Venus Pudica, and his figure’s graceful stance is based on the classical contrapposto pose.
The palette is rich in color tones, from the cool blues of the sea and sky to the warmer green and brown colors of the land. The flowers are highlighted with gold leaf, and Botticelli also gilded the shell on which Venus stands. The painting was one of the first to be painted on canvas, which was cheaper than wood panels and more suitable for large decorative works destined for palaces and villas.
Goya’s La maja desnuda
Often described as the first profane life-size female nude painting in Western art, Francisco Goya’s La maja desnuda (Naked Maja) was painted between 1797 and 1800. The painting depicts a naked female lying on a green velvet chaise with her arms crossed behind her head, while her voluptuous body is angled toward the viewer. She stares seductively at the viewer with rosy cheeks that suggest post-coital flush.
It is thought that the model for this work was either Goya’s mistress or an aristocratic woman of whom he was enamored. However, there is also speculation that she could be a composite of several figures. Regardless of who the model was, the painting is striking for its frankness and for the unashamed confidence with which it shows her body.
Like most of Goya’s paintings, this one is overtly sensual and erotic. It was a bold move for Goya, especially considering the time in which it was painted. It was the artist’s attempt to break away from the more classical depictions of nude women, which he had previously imitated. The fact that the painting was commissioned by Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy may have also contributed to its controversial nature.
In 1815 Goya painted a companion piece called La maja vestida (The Clothed Maja). This painting depicts the same subject but in a fully clothed state. The two paintings are often displayed side by side, although some suggest that Goya originally intended them to be hung in such a way that when The Clothed Maja was pulled, it revealed the naked version beneath it. This would have created a visual trick, similar to how a modern pop-up book works.
Courbet’s The Origin of the World
In a world where the depiction of female nudity was almost always concealed beneath layers of veils, or hidden in some kind of mythological or oneiric context, Courbet’s 1866 painting The Origin of the World was both erotic and revolutionary. The painting shows the vulva and abdomen of a woman lasciviously lying on a bed, her breasts and genitals revealed in a frame that is part of the picture’s edge. A white sheet and black pubic hair cover the rest of her body.
The painting was commissioned by Khalil Serif Pasha, an Ottoman diplomat who had been introduced to the artist by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve after he moved to Paris. He ordered the painting to add to his collection of erotic paintings, which already included Ingres’ Le Bain turc (The Turkish Bath) and Courbet’s The Sleepers. Much speculation surrounds the identity of the model for The Origin of the World, but it is generally agreed that the picture was based on Joanna Hiffernan. Hiffernan had modeled for Courbet in the past and had been romantically involved with James Whistler, who was the subject of several portraits of her.
Courbet’s sexy close-up of the woman’s nether regions shocked viewers when it was first exhibited to great public controversy at the Salon in 1866, and its brazen depiction of an exposed vulva has continued to shock people ever since. It recriminated academic painting’s smooth, idealised nudes and directly confronted the hypocritical social conventions of the day that reserved eroticism and even pornography for women only in oneiric or mythological works. In its raw depiction of a woman’s private matter, the painting is like a call to arms for a new, realistic style of art that would later be perfected by Manet and other Impressionists.
Impressionist painters
During the 19th century, many female artists had to contend with restrictive societal restrictions. These limitations forced them to paint domestic and interior scenes, portraits, and still lifes. Their male counterparts, on the other hand, were able to take advantage of their privilege and focus on more animated scenes like those found in bars and dances.
Nevertheless, women Impressionists made a significant contribution to the movement. Anna Ancher, a Danish painter who worked in the Skagen community of northern Denmark, was influenced by the Impressionists and incorporated their style into her own work. One of Ancher’s most acclaimed paintings is Sorg, which depicts a nude woman kneeling in front of a funerary cross. The painting may be symbolic of the artist’s spirituality and her relationship with nature.
Another noteworthy female Impressionist is Berthe Morisot, a French painter who was Manet’s sister-in-law. She was invited to exhibit her works at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 and participated in all but one of the group’s subsequent exhibitions. Morisot was renowned for her innovative depictions of intimate moments of modern Parisian women. Her paintings showcase the emotional depths of each subject with light expressive brushstrokes.
Mary Cassatt, an American painter who lived in Paris, also exhibited with the Impressionists. Known for her portrayals of mother and daughter, her paintings showcase the close relationships between women and their children. She was influenced by Degas and exhibited many of her works with him at the Paris Salon.
Despite the gender restrictions of their time, these female Impressionists were able to create works that are as groundbreaking as their male peers’. As such, they are considered to be two of the three “grand dames” of the movement.
Titian’s Venus
Titian was a Renaissance master who produced portraits, Madonnas, mythological pictures and sensuous nudes. His Venus of Urbino is a masterpiece in its own right, but it also offers a fascinating insight into the domestic world of sixteenth-century Venice. The painting shows us servants preparing a wedding dress for the beautiful goddess, and the intense gaze of the subject reveals a genuine sense of personhood.
The painting’s composition, use of chiaroscuro and even the landscape in the background all play a role in the evocation of a sense of nudeness. However, Titian’s deft handling of the skin of his model is particularly significant. He creates the illusion of soft flesh with a sculptural quality, while simultaneously depicting the veins in her arms and hands as delicate outlines. The result is a virtuoso display of the body’s ethereal beauty, and one that lingers long after viewing.
Venus of Urbino is one of many works that has shaped subsequent formulas for representing the female body in art. The reclining nude became a standard image of the Renaissance, and it is now an integral part of art history. Artists as diverse as Diego Velazquez, Rembrandt and Jacques-Louis David have used the motif.
Titian’s Venus is the archetype of a sensual, erotic, and sexually explicit woman. Her genitals are covered by her hand, and she appears to be contracting her fingers in a caress of her body. This erotic gesture is echoed in the twist of her left hand and the knotted draperies of the upper left corner of the canvas, a visual rhyme that lends the painting an additional erotic charge. Titian’s Venus is not the hedonistic Venus of classical mythology, but she is a woman who is fully and completely at ease with her sexuality.