Sistene Chapel Cieling: Fellation is very plaubisble, but it could have simply been a compositional decision as well? I can certainly see how the shifting of these two characters prevents each other from “upstaging” each other from Satan. If they had been right next to each other, they would have been competing, and staggering them a bit resolves this.
But fellatio is very much in lines with the allegory being set up by the painting, and the “carnal proximity” was unlikely to go unnoticed by a master such as Michelangelo.
Venus of Urbino: Unlikely, but the overall tone of the painting is still highly sexualized.
Most Renessaince nudes covered, as my AP Art History instructor likes to refer to them, coming from a strong background in Monty Python, as “Naughty Bits.” And again, my initial reason for doubting, comeing from a strong background in porn, it doesn’t really look like she’s masturbating.
Disclaimer: I know little to nothing about art. Please don’t jump on me.
In Michelangelo’s painting, I noticed that Eve seemed rather muscular. Did Michelangelo ever paint women without all that muscle? I’ve seen some of his paintings of men, and they’re all muscular…but is he unable to paint a human figure without all of that muscle?
Most of what I know about art comes from a Fine Arts class at the U. of Evansville in 1968. My prof was big on Michelangelo. Michelangelo reportedly studied anatomy by dissecting purloined corpses. That was very risky in those days; blasphemous, even. His work always showed that off, and knowledge of musculature was unusual for artists of his time. Even his pudgy people had vivid muscles.
Part two! My prof showed us a slide of the creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel. You know, the one with God touching Adam’s outstretched index finger. He said many art scholars believe the calf muscles in Adam’s bent leg suggest Eve’s body. I’ve looked at that many times, and I still give it a “maybe.”:dubious:
Mark Twain, during his tour of Europe, seemed very embarrassed by the Venus – he at least found there was something to the pose that suggested masturbation:
“[…]you may look your fill upon the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses – Titian’s Venus. It isn’t that she is naked and stretched out on a bed --no, it is the attitude of one of her arms and hand”
Personally I think it’s a exceptionally great picture, so I can’t think why Mark Twain would call it foul, vile and what not.
