The tradition of depicting a naked human body originated in ancient times. Greek and Roman gods to this day adorn the gardens and parks of European capitals, delighting the audience with the beauty of proportions and the perfection of lines. You will find nude human figures in the paintings of the masters of the Baroque and Classicism epochs, they are often found in the paintings of contemporary artists.
What is nudity?
In art history, it is customary to call nude a model who poses for a painter or sculptor without clothes. This enables the artist to accurately convey the proportions of a male or female body. In addition, the depiction of a model in the nude is often required by a plot - after all, in the history of society there have been eras when, on solemn occasions, a person appeared in front of those around him exactly naked. Ancient artists studied the body structure of their models and tried to convey it as accurately as possible. Mainly sculptural images of people of the era of antiquity have survived to this day, but history has retained the names of not only artists, but also some models. For example, the famous heterosexual Phryne. The ancient Greek sculptor Praxitel left her features to the descendants, because it was from her that he sculpted Aphrodite of Cnidus.
Nude in Renaissance painting
In the Middle Ages, there was a church ban on depicting a naked human body, even if the plot required it. Moreover, the church forbade not only depicting, but also studying the human body. For violation of this prohibition, a doctor or artist could pay with his life. The changes came during the Renaissance. According to legend, Leonardo da Vinci worked as follows. First, he drew the main lines, then the skeleton, then "put on" muscles and, finally, clothes. This method also found admirers among artists of later eras - for example, among the romantics. A Renaissance painter must have had an excellent knowledge of anatomy. He understood not only the structure of various parts of the human body, but also their functions and ways of interacting with other parts. Naked human figures can be seen on the canvases of Titian, Raphael and other artists, primarily Italian.. The ability to paint the human body in its original form was considered by the masters of that era as a spiritual liberation.
Nude in artists of different eras
In the paintings of the masters of the 16th-18th centuries, nude human figures are constantly encountered. In the Rococo and Baroque eras, frivolous scenes became popular in high society. Fragonard, for example, worked in this genre. In the days of classicism, antique subjects returned to painting, that is, heroes of Greek and Roman legends again appeared on the canvases of famous masters. Nude can also be seen in the paintings of the masters of the Dutch and Flemish schools. A striking example is the famous "Danae" by Rembrandt. Expressionists and Impressionists paid much attention to the nude human body.
Nude in Russian painting
Russian masters, on whose canvases one can see beautiful naked human bodies, were Karl Bryullov, Bruni, Shebuev, and later Serov and Repin. The best Russian artists improved their skills in Italy, where before their eyes there were paintings by the greatest painters and sculptures by the most famous sculptors. But in St. Petersburg, a classical school was formed, where the teaching of anatomy was carried out at the highest level.
Nude as part of the training system
Academic drawing training consists of several stages. Novice artists usually learn to draw plaster models of antique sculptures first, while studying anatomy in a special course. To this day, adherents of the classical school consider this way of teaching optimal.
