Bridget- The Male Gaze in Renaissance Art

 In art history theory unclothed female figures in art are influenced by both the male gaze and the concept of nude versus naked. This can be seen in our class reading "The decorum of women's beauty: Trissino, Firenzuola, Luigini and the representation of women in sixteenth-century painting" by Mary Rogers and in the pieces of art that we saw in Florence. The theory of the male gaze comes from feminist writing and is the act of depicting women in the visual arts from a masculine and heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer. This implies a power dynamic (and the person doing
the viewing doesn't always have to be male). Similarly, the concept of nude versus naked also has to do with the purpose of the viewer looking at the painting. In being naked, the figure is more active, has agency, and there is intention in their nakedness and a expectation that they will be reclothed at some point, and finally the figure is not highly idealized. In contrast, a nude figure is on display and seen as an object, is highly idealized, and is not naked for the sake of a story. We can see these two concepts in two pieces of artwork that we saw in Florence. 

An example of an artwork that is a good example of the male gaze and a nude figure is Venus and Cupid painted by Pontormo, which is housed in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence. This painting is of a nude Venus that is reclining while a naked Cupid kisses her cheek. There is not a larger story that these two figures are part of, and Venus is not shown to be in action/about to cover up. This along with her highly idealized body, suggests that this painting is of a nude figure and was likely painted for the male gaze. 

In contrast, the painting Judith Beheading Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi which is housed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and was painted a bit later is not a painting that includes a nude figure and was painted for the male gaze. In this painting the female figures are clearly in action, and have agency in their own story. They also follow a biblical story from the Birth of Judith, which explains the actions that they are taking. They are also all entirely clothed, and their bodies aren't particularly idealized. Because this painting was painted by a woman, the need for it to adhere to the male gaze was not as strong.