So the reasons why nudity was a common thing in Renaissance art is rather varied, and sometimes depended on the artist and the region. In brief, the largest reason was simply a renewed interest in the art forms from back in the Greek and Roman eras, where portraying the body in detail was seen as a means of studying nature, e.g. showing the body in it’s “natural” form. Exactly how that was rendered varied on a lot of factors, and contrary to common belief, there wasn’t a clear consensus on the “right” way to do it, as artists all had varying ideas on what the “ideal” body should look like, further influenced by the fact that such nudity did actually draw controversy with the general public, particularly with Christianity which was obviously in full swing by then.
And since this meant there was some attempts to censor what was seen as the more “offensive” of such art, so to compensate, there was attempts to strike a balance between the two so to appease both parties. This is probably why the Sistine Chapel’s Adam is portrayed as nude, but not God—an attempt to pacify any Christian critics that’d take issue with the Almighty being portrayed so carnally.
For what it’s worth, Michelangelo’s David is uncircumcised. Probably never crossed Michelangelo’s mind; you can’t think of everything, and possibly the artist was somewhat distracted by the overt sexuality of the subject. He was gay, after all, and probably most or all of his experiences were with uncut guys.
scyphi26 about 2 months ago
So the reasons why nudity was a common thing in Renaissance art is rather varied, and sometimes depended on the artist and the region. In brief, the largest reason was simply a renewed interest in the art forms from back in the Greek and Roman eras, where portraying the body in detail was seen as a means of studying nature, e.g. showing the body in it’s “natural” form. Exactly how that was rendered varied on a lot of factors, and contrary to common belief, there wasn’t a clear consensus on the “right” way to do it, as artists all had varying ideas on what the “ideal” body should look like, further influenced by the fact that such nudity did actually draw controversy with the general public, particularly with Christianity which was obviously in full swing by then.
And since this meant there was some attempts to censor what was seen as the more “offensive” of such art, so to compensate, there was attempts to strike a balance between the two so to appease both parties. This is probably why the Sistine Chapel’s Adam is portrayed as nude, but not God—an attempt to pacify any Christian critics that’d take issue with the Almighty being portrayed so carnally.
AndrewSihler about 2 months ago
For what it’s worth, Michelangelo’s David is uncircumcised. Probably never crossed Michelangelo’s mind; you can’t think of everything, and possibly the artist was somewhat distracted by the overt sexuality of the subject. He was gay, after all, and probably most or all of his experiences were with uncut guys.