Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 4231
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Bernstein , Joanne G.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: The Female Model and the Renaissance Nude: Durer, Giorgione, and Raphael
  • Source: Artibus et Historiae 13, 26 ( 1992): Pages 49 - 63.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Art History- General Durer, Albrecht, Artist Gender in Art Giorgione, Painter Nude in Art Raphael, Artist Renaissance Sexuality in Art Women in Art
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Germany;Italy
  • Century: 15- 16
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Fifteen Figures. Figure One Pisanello, “Bathers,” c. 1424 (Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen). Drawing depicts four nude women bathing. Figure Two Leonardo da Vinci, “Leda and the Swan,” c. 1504 (Chatsworth, Devonshire Collection). Drawing depicts Leda kneeling as the swan approaches. Figure Three Albrecht Durer, “Bath Attendant,” 1493 (Bayonne, Musée Bonnat). Drawing depicts a nude female model standing with an erect posture, with a direct gaze toward the viewer. Figure Four Albrecht Durer, “Nude Woman with Staff,” 1495 (Paris, Musée du Louvre). Drawing depicts a woman turned away from the viewer. She leans against a staff, and the drapery of cloth is characteristic of classical art. Figure Five Albrecht Durer, “The Bathing Women,” 1496 (Bremen, Kunsthalle [until 1945]). Drawing depicts nude women in a bathhouse, including both old and young women, some standing, some sitting, some viewed from the front, and some from the back. Figure Six Albrecht Durer, “The Four Naked Women,” 1497 (Washington, D. C., National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Collection). Engraving depicts the women standing in dignified classical postures. Figure Seven Nicoletto da Modena, “Judgment of Paris,” 1500. Engraving depicts three nude goddesses, based on Durer’s engraving of four naked women. Figure Eight After Gorgione, “Nude Woman” (engraving from Zanetti, after lost frescoes for the Fondaco dei Tedeschi). The woman sits on a rock with her body twisted and gazes downward. Figure Nine Giorgione, “Pastoral Concert,” c. 1505-10 (Paris, Musée du Louvre). Painting depicts two seated clothed men and two nude women in a pastoral landscape. One woman sits with her back turned to the viewer, and the other woman stands with her body facing the viewer but her head turned to the left. Figure Ten Raphael, study for the “Massacre of the Innocents,” c. 1511 (London, British Museum). Five nude women shielding their children from four nude men wielding swords. Figure Eleven Raphael, “Leda and the Swan,” c. 1504 (Windsor Castle, Royal Library). Drawing depicts Leda nude and standing upright with her gaze turned out toward the viewer. Figure Twelve Raphael, “The Three Graces,” c. 1517-18 (Windsor, Royal Library). Drawing depicts the Graces nude, one of them holding a mirror. Figure Thirteen Raphael, “Girl Holding a Mirror,” c. 1517-18 (Paris, Musée du Lourvre). Drawing is a profile portrait depicting a nude girl standing erect. Figure Fourteen Raphael, “Portrait of a Woman (La Fornarina),” c. 1518 (Rome, Palazzo Barberini, Galleria Nazionale). A woman sits with her breasts exposed to the viewer. She covers her genitals with her right hand, and with her left hand she presses her breast down and offers up her nipple. Figure Fifteen Albrecht Durer, “An Artist Drawing a Reclining Woman,” 1538, woodcut in “The Art of Measurement.” Woodcut depicts a male artist who draws a partially nude female model with the aid of a perspective device.
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  • Author's Affiliation: Mills College, Oakland
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1992.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 03919064