As we all know, western paintings often use Greek mythology as an excuse to draw naked women. For example, Venus must be naked every time she appears in a painting. This is based on an irrefutable reason: God can be naked. Because no one has seen what God is like, so they can't fight back. On the other hand, the ancient Greeks really wore cool clothes, and painting the goddess as a naked woman made sense from the cosplay effect.
There are many nude sculptures and reliefs of men and women in the cultural relics unearthed in ancient Greece. For the ancient Greeks, nude represents the ideal of perfect body, youth and strength. After ancient Greece and Rome, it entered the "dark" Middle Ages for art. In the Middle Ages, nudity represented evil and weakness. Therefore, in Christian art, let alone naked women, there are even few naked images. In order to reveal the sacred mark of Jesus, the church allows the picture of Jesus suffering or Jesus appearing in the sky to be semi-naked.
Because the Bible says that Adam and Eve were naked at first, and then they were ashamed after eating the fruit of wisdom, the pictures of Adam and Eve can also be naked. In addition, no other paintings can appear nude. Therefore, I used to have the impression that the paintings related to Christianity in western art were basically serious.
The first story is Susanna and the Elders. Susanna, a young woman of a wealthy businessman, was coveted by two local lecherous uncles (elders) because of her beauty. These two people often spy on Susanna and once happened to meet Susanna taking a bath in her garden. At the same time, the two men also found each other's existence, which may be courage.
The two old goat decided to molest Susanna together. When the maids all walked away, they began to bully and seduce her, but Susanna wouldn't live with these two bad old men if she was killed. At this time, the two elders bit back and said, if you are not good with us, I will sue you for adultery. Susanna still refused severely, and as a result, the two elders took her to court and Susanna was hanged.
Susanna prayed to God devoutly at this moment. God sensed her grievance and sent the prophet Daniel to save her. Daniel asked the court to reopen the case. He wisely interrogated the two elders separately to prevent them from colluding with each other.
He asked them what kind of tree they found Susanna committing adultery with others. As a result, their answers were different from each other's, and their flaws were exposed. Susanna was able to get revenge, and two elders were executed.
Loyalty and piety overcome evil. This is a biblical story with a sense of justice, but it has gone bad in painting ... There are actually many scenes to draw in this story. To say the sense of justice, it should be the part where the prophet Daniel fought with two elders in the final trial.
But now most people choose to draw Susanna taking a shower and being peeped. At present, there are at least hundreds of oil paintings about Susanna and the elders in museums all over the world, all of which are bathing scenes!
Susanna's story itself has multiple meanings, but just showing the scene of bathing in painting is actually diluting its moral implication and highlighting the pornographic part; However, this identity of biblical stories provides a safe coat for such hypocrisy.
They show neither loyalty nor piety, but desire. Choosing a story intended to promote justice to describe such a fragrant scene is actually legalizing voyeurism.
The following two pictures are both works by Tintoretto. In the first picture, there are two elders in the distant shade. Susanna is served by a maid, but she leans over and looks straight at the audience outside the canvas.
Who are we when she looks at us? In fact, we have joined the ranks of two elders and become voyeurs. So we looked at Susanna, and Susanna knew that we were looking at her (it felt very creepy). By the way, the fat on this body is a bit hard to look straight at. Why did Europeans like this before?
Tintoretto，Susanna and the Elders， 1555–56，The Prado Museum，Madrid，Spain。
In the second picture, Susanna is looking in the mirror, which symbolizes vanity (although there is no description of looking in the mirror in the original story). Western oil paintings like to show women's vanity by looking in the mirror, which means that women always care about what others (men) think of themselves, thus making women the first object to be watched.
"Because I like to look at naked women, I (the painter or the client) created you, so it is reasonable for me to look at you now, but I want to give you a mirror and call you vanity." In this way, moral condemnation was thrown back on the other side, successfully excusing his own desires.
Tintoretto，Susanna and The Elders， 1555，Kunsthistorisches Museum，Vienna，Austria。
In fact, there is nothing wrong with seeing Huang Tu Jr., and there is no problem with this demand, but there is a logic hidden in these little Huang Tu: on the one hand, they are satisfied by seeing her naked, and on the other hand, they have to condemn her morally. Kong Zhen, this is not a hooligan.
Look at the picture below. Is Susanna being teased by two elders or teasing two elders? Is she struggling to resist, or is she smiling? The image of a dog in western oil paintings mostly expresses loyalty. However, does the puppy sticking out from the crack behind Susanna remind her to be loyal, or just want to run away from this trouble spot as soon as possible?
Alessandro Allori，Susanna and the Elders， 156 1，Musée Magnin，Dijon，France。
In many paintings, Susanna is not so much an innocent victim as a deliberate crime-of course, this is the effect carefully created by the painter, such as making Susanna smile back at the viewer, suggesting her vanity with a mirror, and arranging her to do some ambiguous actions. It's like saying, Susanna, this is your fault. Thus, this evil desire was further legalized. This is really a very bright porn!
Most of the oil paintings about Susanna and the elders carry out the logic mentioned above. This is a theme that is convenient for people to draw and see naked women, even better than Greek mythology, because it also has its own moral sublimation, and even saves the trouble of writing a review. Of so many works that are in the name of morality but are based on pornography.
I only found one exception, and that is Artemisia Gentileschi's version. This painting rarely shows Susanna's disgust, fear and resistance, rather than being ambiguous as in other paintings. Gentileschi was the most outstanding female painter in the Baroque period. It is an interesting question whether her choice of such a way of expression is related to her female identity.
Maybe it is because she is a woman that she really understands women's feelings, not because of straight men's cancer. (This painter was introduced in the last article. Please poke Kim Kardashian in the oil painting industry in the review post | Italian female painter Gentileschi)
Artemisia Gentileschi，Susanna and the Elders， 16 10，Sch? nborn Collection，Pommersfelden，Germany。
The second story is Bathsheba and King David. King David, the great king of the ancient kingdom of Israel, believed in God very devoutly. Among the kings of Israel, he is the most just monarch described in the Bible, and his heroic deeds are numerous, such as killing the giant Goliath.
Michelangelo's famous statue of David is this king David. But King David also committed some sins in his later years, one of which was stealing other people's wives! The woman he wants to rob is called Bathsheba.
Bathsheba is the wife of an officer under King David. One day, she was taking a bath (or garden) on her terrace, and at this moment, King David saw her bathing on a roof (or tower) next to it, and then she couldn't extricate herself. He sent a messenger to summon Bathsheba, and then he took her and knocked her up.
At this time, King David realized that something was wrong, and quickly called Bathsheba's husband back from the front, and ordered him to go home and love his wife, so that his husband would think that the child in his wife's belly was his. This method of cuckolding people is also a lever … but Bathsheba's husband strictly abides by the military regulations-he is not allowed to go home during his service, so he has been staying in the military camp.
When King David saw that this trick didn't work, he thought of another trick. He arranged for the poor husband to go to the front to fight, and then ordered the general to abandon the man during the battle and let him die in the hands of the enemy. As a result, Bathsheba's husband died heroically, and King David married Bathsheba in a justified way. Solomon, the child of Bathsheba and King David, later became the king of Israel.
The ending of this story is also very righteous. King David's behavior made God angry, so he punished him: his first child with Bathsheba died, and a few years later there was a rebellion in the family. However, as you should have guessed, people are actually not so interested in the moral part of this story. The most interesting thing is the naked woman!
Peter Paul Rubens，Bathsheba at the Fountain， 1635，Gem? ldegalerie Alte Meister，Dresden，Germany。
Bathing scene of Bathsheba provides yy space for many painters, and it is a very safe space, because it is a biblical story and a historical story at the same time, so you can confidently draw a bathing beauty. In most bath pictures of Bathsheba, there is usually a tall tower in the distance, and there are several figures (King David) on the tower.
To show that this is Bathsheba in the Old Testament. The role of these "props" is to wash Huang Tu white and tell everyone, "I'm not drawing a picture of the erotic palace. This is a religious and historical story!"
However, Rembrandt subverted these routines in the past. There is no tower in the picture below, and there is no King David, only a naked woman taking a bath and her maid. So, Rembrandt is so bold as to openly paint ordinary naked women? No, notice that the woman has a letter in her hand, and there is a red lacquer seal in the corner of the letter, which means that it is from the king (although there is no mention of such a letter in the original story).
This letter shows that this woman is Bathsheba: her bath was spied by King David, and then King David sent this letter to inform her that she was going to be the king of the country. Without this letter, it would be an ordinary naked woman bathing, which would be a big taboo; Once you have this letter, the whole picture will be justified immediately.
Rembrandt，Bathsheba at Her Bath， 1654，The Louvre，Paris，France。
Rembrandt showed Bathsheba's complicated mood at a glance. She seemed to have read the contents of the letter, but her head bowed and she seemed to be thinking something. Should I stick to my husband's loyalty or comply with the king's request? This seems to be a moral dilemma that loyalty and loyalty cannot be balanced, but in fact, how many choices can Bathsheba have in the face of the king's request?
At the moment, the maid is helping her to wash her feet. She is surrounded by luxurious golden brocade. Isn't that what she prepared before she went to the palace to serve the king? A beam of highlights hit Bathsheba's body, which was a classic Rembrandt-style exhaustion, and everything except her nude was in darkness.
There is no King David in the picture. As long as the audience is willing, they can always regard this painting as a fragrant nude bathing girl. For those who seek moral explanation, Rembrandt shows Bathsheba's helpless moral dilemma.
For those who seek hormones, Rembrandt provides them with an excellent fantasy. It's like those French romantic literary films, with both pornography and literature. Of course, this is a very delicate steel wire.
The last story is about Potiphar's wife and Yue Se. This story comes from Genesis in the Bible. Yue Se is a prophet in the Old Testament. When he was young, he was sold to Egypt as a slave and worked in the home of a local official, Potipha. Yue Se was devoted to God, so everything went well, and because he was very capable, he was promoted to be a housekeeper by his master.
At this time, the master's wife took a fancy to Yue Se and repeatedly lured Yue Se to commit adultery with her. But Yue Se is loyal to her master and always refuses her. On one occasion, Mrs. Potiphar deliberately held off other servants and then summoned Yue Se to her bedroom. As soon as Yue Se entered the room, she found her wife lying in bed naked, but Yue Se was as unmoved as Liu Xiahui.
He refused his wife's temptation and left the room at once. At that moment, Mrs Potiphi grabbed Yue Se by the skirts and tore off his coat. Yue Se didn't care so much and left without taking back his clothes. As a result, when the owner Potiphi came back, the lady actually accused Yue Se of forcibly entering her room and trying to rape her. She also pointed to the dress and said that this was evidence!
Master Potiphar can only put Yue Se in prison. However, because of Yue Se's prophetic ability (actually interpreting dreams), he was later appreciated by Egyptian pharaohs, so he was released and became a senior official in Egypt.
If this story is staged in a small stage play, there must be several scenes. In fact, there are many opportunities to show the wisdom, piety and loyalty of the Prophet Yue Se. However, none of them appear in the painting. Everyone unanimously likes the part painted in the bedroom, that is, the part where naked women can appear.
Guercino，Joseph and Potiphar's Wife， 1649，National Gallery of Art，Washington DC，USA。
These paintings are all about Yue Se and Potiphar's wife, and their compositions are basically similar: Mrs Potiphar was lying naked in bed, and Yue Se refused to run away, and then Mrs Potiphar caught her by the skirts.
Jean-Baptiste Nattier，Joseph and Potiphar's Wife， 17 1 1，Hermitage Museum，Saint Petersburg，Russia。
Guido Reni，Joseph and Potiphar's Wife， 1630，Getty Center，Los Angeles，USA。
Here I recommend john berger's The Way to Watch, a book on image and cultural criticism. At the same time, the author also hosted a documentary of the same name on the BBC, a film of the 1970s.
He said, "Naked is to keep yourself, while naked is to be watched, and at the same time, self is not recognized. A nude is first and foremost an object to be displayed. The beautiful woman in the painting is given a reward, and this reward is to be owned. She is naked not because she is naked, but because you are looking at her. "
That's great! The naked woman in western painting is first of all an object to be displayed and watched, and they always seem to be aware that they are being watched. Therefore, nudity is not an expression of her own feelings, but a manifestation of her obedience to the needs of others, in other words, the needs of the collectors of this painting. Her needs are not important, but the needs of the viewers.
Some people will say, why can't we simply appreciate these nudes as art? Or, what's wrong with humans painting nudes to appreciate their bodies? Indeed, nude images (both men and women) in western painting represent an ideal theme and are regarded as a manifestation of European humanistic spirit.
Just as the ancient Greeks' worship of the body was a perfect ideal. However, why does it have such a strong erotic meaning only when painting naked women, and on the contrary, it emphasizes strength and honor when painting naked men? Obviously, most of the former clients and collectors were men, so this so-called humanistic ideal is actually a male humanistic ideal after all, and has nothing to do with women.
In fact, no matter Venus in Greek mythology or the biblical stories just mentioned, paintings of naked women with these themes are not particularly public, at least they will not be hung in the living room. Before the19th century, these paintings were almost all private manuscripts, so the client did not intend to appreciate them as works of art from the beginning.
Most of them are put in men's study for private use, and occasionally a few friends (= wretched uncle) are invited to visit. Therefore, if we appreciate these nude paintings with the eyes of appreciating art now, it is undoubtedly out of their original context.
Its creator didn't intend to regard it as a noble work of art from the beginning. To put it bluntly, it is just a toy that can only be played by nobles and rich people: it is similar to the current porn or little Huang Tu. Eating color is also.
I say this because I believe in human nature more than the sublimity of art. There are only a few people in this world who really care about art, and most people really just want a little Huang Tu. In the same way, if someone tells me that he went to see Jin Ping Mei to appreciate the elegance of literary masterpieces, I can only hehe. If you want to see it, just look at it openly and honestly.
Susanna and the elders, Bathsheba's bathing, Potiphar's wife and Yue Se, etc., even in the European society where religious beliefs were still generally eager before the 20th century, people clearly knew that these were just satisfying desires under the guise of religious morality. What goddesses and virgins were just ordinary people in the paintings.
What's more, the models of naked women in the painting are actually prostitutes, which was also a well-known fact at that time. In that case, why not just admit that these paintings are actually semi-erotic paintings? Because the fig leaf of myth and religion is like a translucent thin window paper, everyone knows its existence, but they pretend to turn a blind eye, let alone pierce it.
More and more, I feel that western classical painting is really a profound knowledge, half of which is Jesus and the Virgin Mary, and the other half is a naked woman.