In my AP Art History class, the revered, respected, and well enjoyed intructor is currently leading us on a process of academic discovery through the High Renessaince.
He’s also a dirty old man.
Consequently, two sexual interpretation of two works recently presented are leaving me doubtful:
The first: The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden by Michelangelo. http://www.artprints-on-demand.co.uk/noframes/michelangelo/fall.htm Our art history teacher clamis that Eve is clearly sitting up from a position of fellating Adam, representing the lack of sin and shame before the expulsion. It’s all fun and games.
That was not my initial impression.
Second: The Venus of Urbino by Titian. http://www.abcgallery.com/T/titian/titian82.html My instructor claims that the Venus is clearly in a masurbatory pose. This serves as an instruction manual for marriage; the little dog’s fidelity, the children and servants in the background, and most controverislally, the message: Women, if ya’ want a kid, masturbate before sex to increase your receptiveness to your husbands seed.
Again: not my initial impression.
So, what’s the generalart histroy community’s take on these two works? Obvious sexual refferences, or is my art history, of dubious motivations, trying to corrupt the impressionable young minds of his class?