Venus of Urbino
The Venus of Urbino is a very popular art image. It was painted in 1538 by the Italian artist Titian. We may be talking about todays media respresentations of women, but I wanted to demonstrate that the male gaze is not new. This painting was commissioned (i.e the artist was paid to paint an image to the purchaser's specifications) by the Duke of Urbino of his mistress and it would have hung in his back parlor to be shown to his male friends.
This is an obviously sexualized figure. She is laying on the bed, propped up to be seen in full view, holding the gaze of the viewer, and covering, yet at the same time drawing attention to her pubis. She is laying ready and waiting for the viewer or commissioner of the piece to come to her. The woman is from the upper class which is shown by her maidservants in the background. They are getting her clothes out of the trunk and will eventually dress her. This sends the message that only the higher class female body is worth the time to paint, much less view. Thus women must be wealthy in order to be attractive.
She is separated from her maidservants in the space by a dark curtain on the left. This separates them in class importance as the nude model is at the foreground and obviously not one of the maids. The dark curtain also serves to give her a dramatic backdrop so that her white skin stands out. The edge of the curtain creates a vertical line that leads the eye straight the woman's pubis. The line of the bed creates an additional horizontal line drawing the eye to the same area. Thus we have a visual "bullseye" on the woman's pubic area. She is holding flowers in her hand, one petal has already fallen to the bed; an obvious allusion to the fact that she has been "deflowered." The bed itself beneath the sheet and the flowers are red, a color symbolizing love and passion. A dog sits on the end of the bed which is a symbol of fidelity. (The dog popular dog's name Fido is derived from the word fidelity). These little details insure that the painting cannot be read any other way than being about sex.
I read this painting as a status symbol. You have to be high class in order to afford to commission a painting of your mistress. You also must be high class in order to have your nude portrait painted. Thus in order to be attractive enough to be worth seen naked, you have to have money.