Copyright Dr. Elizabeth Garner, May 1, 2015. All rights Reserved.

Albrecht Dürer and Sex Secrets!

Let’s discuss sex in art and specifically about sex secrets in Dürer’s art. It has always amazed me how scholars and art historians seem to purposefully avoid the issue of sex in art, especially nudity. Instead they seem to gloss over the obvious, coming up with all sorts of complicated analyses and opinions as to why nudity exists in art other than to attract male buyers.

GREEK REVIVAL OR NEOCLASSICISM, ANYONE? HOW ABOUT PORN?

Often, the depiction of nude women in art is attributed to the resurrection of Greek and Roman themes, often called Greek Revival or Neoclassicism. Sex sells. Period. We see this in any advertisement today. Nothing has changed since homo sapiens came into existence. Men love looking at the female nude body and will buy pictures of nude females.

Artists got rich depicting nude females. Most art historians attribute Dürer’s depiction of nude female and male bodies in his art as proof that Dürer was influenced by the Renaissance Italian painters. The Metropolitan Museum of Art claims that “the rediscovery of Greco-Roman culture in the Renaissance restored the nude to the heart of creative endeavor.”

HOW ABOUT PORN INSTEAD?

Sex sells, period. A Renaissance painter or artist could only get away with painting nude bodies for the visual pleasure of men by fostering this theory or suffer from the Roman Catholic Church’s punishment. We have to remember that Dürer was manufacturing his art soon after the Inquisition was implemented.