Italian Renaissance Nude

The first scholarly monograph to focus on the inception of the Italian Renaissance nude, this lively study subverts the idea that the nude in this period was a triumph of classical revival. Looking again at familiar (even overly familiar) images by artists such as Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Titian, this book investigates the nude as a tool of colonialism and conquest, as a means of asserting the superiority of men to women, and of naturalizing power differentials by entrenching them in a fixed set of ideas about the body and its representation.  Jill Burke uses new research on Renaissance sexual practices, material culture, and the history of medicine to contextualize the era’s fascination with nakedness and the body in both art and life.  The Italian Renaissance Nude invites readers to consider these celebrated nudes from beyond an aesthetic perspective—to consider why they were painted, whose gaze the images were created for, and how these artworks were used.
 

Prima monografie stiintifica care se concentreaza asupra inceputului nudului renascentist italian, acest studiu plin de viata submineaza ideea ca nudul din aceasta perioada a fost un triumf al renasterii clasice. Privind din nou la imagini familiare (chiar prea familiare) ale unor artisti precum Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo si Titian, aceasta carte investigheaza nudul ca instrument al colonialismului si al cuceririi, ca mijloc de afirmare a superioritatii barbatilor fata de femei, si a naturalizarii diferentelor de putere prin inradacinarea lor intr-un set fix de idei despre corp si reprezentarea acestuia. Jill Burke foloseste noi cercetari privind practicile sexuale renascentiste, cultura materiala si istoria medicinei pentru a contextualiza fascinatia epocii cu goliciunea si corpul atat in arta, cat si in viata.