Sex, Power, and Violence in the Renaissance Nude

Jill Bourke | The Iris | 25th October 2018

We acclaim the “lissome goddesses” in Renaissance pictures but do we pick up on their embedded narratives? These works reflect the (misogynist) culture of their day. Beauty was ideally associated with submissiveness. Rape was thought to often involve female consent. And pictures of nudity were kept private and swapped between men – who were just being men.