The Female Nude during the 19th Century

“And who is so barbarous as not to understand that the foot of a man is nobler than his shoe, and his skin nobler than that of the sheep with which he is clothed.” - Michelangelo

The female nude, also known as the Venus, has been prominent throughout the history of Western art. Fascination with the nude dates back to Greek and Roman antiquity, while mastery of the nude continues to be an indication of a well-trained and distinguished artist. The nude form has always been something that grips and entices us as human beings. While containing an inherent sense of beauty, loveliness, and dignity the nude has been admired over centuries and continues to marvel the viewer to this day. While culturally reflecting a sense of sensuality and seductiveness, the nude also possesses a purity of form and is the embodiment of true rationality. In Florinda, Franz Xaver Winterhalter depicts a personal and sensuous scene of nude women lounging in the woods which is a classical composition of the nude during the 19^th century. The 19th century was characterized by Victorian ideas of romanticism and pure sensuality. This expressed itself in many forms of art including painting, music, and theatre. Narratives were full of exaggerated romanticism and emphasized Victorian ideals of chivalry and chastity. Art was a medium that brought these over romanticized stories to life and allowed the viewer to partake in the story in a new way. Modernization and the Industrial Revolution at the beginning of the 19^th century led to a change in thought and world view; these new ideas also caused a shift in the way that artists pursued their work. Throughout the 19^th century while many artists continued to reference antiquity in their presentation of the nude, new artists were beginning to use new techniques and blend different ideas in their artwork which began to challenge the limits of the nude within academic art.

 Florinda, Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1853, oil on canvas, 01.21

In this artwork Winterhalter depicts a sensuous scene of half-clothed women creating a new perspective for the classical nude. The ideal forms of the women and the luxuriously smooth brushwork creates a tie to classicism and antiquity. However, the sense of location and narrative brings a fresh twist to the nude. As the centerpiece of this exhibition we are drawn to see how Winterhalter is using the classics and tying it with pieces of modernity. Winterhalter takes the Victorian ideas of the 19^th century and overlaps them with antiquity. This draws us into a new idea of how modern thought and technique were challenging and shaping the classical legacy of the ideal nude. 

  Musidora, Thomas Sully, 1813-35, oil on wood, 21.48

Musidora is the only nude that Thomas Sully paints during his lifetime. This artwork envelops the essence of a Victorian nude, the piece creates a perfect balance between the chaste and erotic. Much in the same way that Florinda tells a narrative Sully does so with this piece. Musidora is inspired by James Thomson’s poem Summer (1727). Another similarity is how both artists incorporate the audience into the scene as an onlooker, in Musidora however the viewer plays the role of Damon who discovers Musidora bathing and falls in love with her. This piece simultaneously references classical antiquity and the modern values of the Victorian time period.

·       Seated Female Nude, Eugène Durieu, 1853-54, albumen silver print from glass negative, 2005.100.41

Durieu was a practitioner of photography, a recently new invention, in France who created a series of photographic studies of nudes and other costumed figures. Durieu elicited the help of a romantic painter, Delacroix, who helped him pose figures for his photographs. In his photography, Durieu desired to do more than make just a copy of reality but create an expression of the photographer’s temperament and vision. The pose of this woman alludes back to the Grand Odalisque by Ingres. The Seated Female Nude presents a perfect combination of the nude’s sensuality mixed with classicism in a modern medium of the 19^th century.

The White Captive, Erastus Dow Palmer, 1857-59, marble, 94.9.3

The White Captive is a genuinely American piece and alludes to the many skirmishes between the Native Americans and the American pioneers. This piece pushes the legacy of nude classicism into new and fresh contexts. This marble sculpture recalls classical antiquity and creates a glamorized narrative for the audience. Much like Michelangelo’s David, Palmer strips down the woman to the nude but leaves a few indications of her place in a narrative. Thereby, Palmer is stretching the boundaries between the naked and the nude just as many before him have done. The White Captive uses the nude in a new context and ties this to classical antiquity, reflecting how America, a new nation, is rising and trying to establish their own prominence and solidarity. 

Bathers, Paul Cézanne, 1874-75, oil on canvas, 1976.201.12

Paul Cézanne was a French painter who was part of the Post-Impressionism art movement. Cézanne took a more scientific approach to his work than the Impressionists before him and focused on creating works that were about perception and materiality. In this work Bathers, Cézanne depicts a group of women bathing in a river, one of his first works focused upon bathers. However, the subject of bathers became an important focus during the rest of Cézanne’s career. In this piece we can see how Cézanne understands the female nude, but also how he molds it to fit into his vision and purpose. Unlike other classical nudes, Cézanne does not finely smooth and blend the body to create a life-like fleshy, soft figure; instead Cézanne uses more unnatural colors that seem rough while creating a dynamic and angular feel about their bodies. Cézanne is one of the many artists in the 19^th century that began pushing the boundaries of the classical nude and used the nude in new ways challenging the viewer to see them in a new light.

 The Birth of Venus, Alexandre Cabanel, 1875, oil on canvas, 94.24.1

Alexandre Cabanel, an established French painter, first presented this well-praised nude The Birth of Venus in the Paris Salon of 1863 which was deemed “Salon of the Venuses” because of how many female nudes were displayed. This is a smaller replica which was later commissioned by John Wolfe in 1875. Cabanel took a more academic and classical approach with his nude in which he emphasizes the sensuality of the nude through use mythological subject and finely smoothed brushwork that creates an otherworldly feel. The Birth of Venus also recalls other famous nudes which came before such as Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. Unlike Cézanne, Cabanel adheres to antiquity instead of pushing into new boundaries. The alluring nature of Cabanel’s nude plays on the romantic narrative that was praised during the 19^th century while also embodying the sensuality and purity of classical nude ideals. 

Tahitian Women Bathing, Paul Gauguin, 1892, oil on paper, 1975.1.179

Paul Gauguin was another Post-Impressionist painter like Cézanne; Gauguin however took a more emotional approach to his work. He thought there was too much rationalism and modernism in Impressionist painting. Gauguin was also an advocate of primitivism and was captivated by the idea of unexplored places and authentic people untouched by modernity. This was expressed in his many trips to Tahiti and other Polynesian Islands. In Gauguin’s Tahitian Women Bathing, the viewer can see his adoption of non-western art as a criticism of European modernity and how he creates a hyper-sexuality, superstitious feel. The use of unnatural colors and the posture of the female figures build upon this sense of the primitive and wild authenticity that Gauguin praises. Gauguin’s Tahitian Women Bathing is more sexualized and untamed than previous nudes; it poses a challenge to the classical history of the nude while also questioning its purpose in art much like Édouard Manet’s Olympia. 

  Bather in the Woods, Camille Pissarro, 1895, oil on canvas, 29.100.126

Pissarro was a French painter at the end of the 19^th century and this piece, Bather in the Woods, is one of a number of his pieces in a series of nude peasant women bathing. Pissarro’s creation shows the influence of divisionist technique, a Neo-Impressionist style, while also being naturalistic in nature. The painting all at once seems full of energy and movement but is also serene and peaceful. The nude as depicted in this different style of painting envelops a new style itself, a more vibrant and uncharacteristic nature. While deviating from the classical and painterly nudes such as Musidora and The Birth of Venus, Pissarro maintains a peaceful and sensual nature. Pissarro explores the nude through the use of different painterly techniques and represents the nude in a slightly different style than before.