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(upbeat music)
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- The nude is the most
enduring subject in art.
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For more than 20,000 years,
images of the naked human body
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have been at the very center
of a long and complex saga.
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It's hard to understand any of
the major developments in art
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without an understanding of the key role
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played by changing depictions
of naked men and women.
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In this series, I'm going to explore
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the ongoing significance of the nude,
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what it tells us about
various civilizations,
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and what it tells us about ourselves
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and the world in which we live.
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(upbeat music)
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Today, nudity in art seems
sexy because for most of us,
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nudity is associated with sex.
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But that's not always been the case.
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In the past, the function of art
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and artist changes dramatically.
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And in order to understand nude images,
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we need to look at them very carefully.
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Sometimes they have a
symbolically religious function.
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They evoke gods or ancestors or fertility,
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or sometimes even a way
of warding off evil.
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And the first example of this
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can be dated back to the Stone Age.
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The origins of the nude in
art as we now understand it
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was only revealed about
a hundred years ago
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in the Austrian town of Willendorf
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where this curious female
figure was uncovered.
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She's from the paleolithic period,
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so she's at least 25,000 years old.
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There's no facial details,
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but what we notice are voluptuous breasts
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where her hands point
to them, and in fact,
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her arms seem to be resting on the top,
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and a distended stomach that
could show that she's pregnant.
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Apart from that, there's very
little else known about her.
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There are other figures like
this that have been discovered
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from the paleolithic
period all over the world.
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But for various reasons,
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this piece has assumed a huge power.
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It currently resides in
the Natural History Museum
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in Vienna, but the
British Museum have a copy
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that they use for educational purposes,
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and it's that, that I'm holding now.
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There's all sorts of speculation
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about what it might've been used for.
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The image of fertility is very powerful,
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and others have said that she's a goddess.
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There's also interesting speculation
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that it might well have
been made by a woman,
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that this presents a woman's
eye view of the female body,
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which if it's true is a really neat twist
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on what's otherwise a
male-dominated history of art.
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She's a very mysterious object.
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And she comes from a time
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when the very story of art itself begins.
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And in some ways, the
history of the nude in art
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can be traced to this
simple enigmatic, powerful,
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crude, but lovingly made little object.
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(slow percussive music)
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Over the next 20,000 years,
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numerous cultures emerged, the
greatest and most influential
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as far as Western art,
and therefore the nude
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is concerned came from Egypt.
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(slow percussive music)
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In Egyptian art, much centers on the idea
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of preservation for posterity.
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That's why human bodies were mummified,
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and also why sculptures were
deemed to be so important,
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as a way of keeping the
soul alive through an image.
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In fact, one Egyptian word for sculptor
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translates as he who keeps alive.
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In Egypt itself, nudity was
considered pretty abhorrent
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and not part of day-to-day life.
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Therefore, not a large part of art.
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Throughout history, the nude has of course
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reflected the society
from which it emerged.
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The importance of Egypt to our story
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lies more with its technique.
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In sculpture, relief
carving, and painting,
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the human form was
depicted in a standardized
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even formulaic way, almost
like painting by numbers,
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so the representation
could be repeated anywhere.
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In Egyptian daily life, only children
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appeared naked in public.
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Likewise in art, adults remain
clothed, with two exceptions.
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One, in rare and
furtively erotic carvings.
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And secondly, in certain
sculptures where fishermen,
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laborers, and other workers or
servants are portrayed naked,
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with nudity used as a device
to show social inferiority.
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Here's another nude statue
from around the same period,
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highly abstracted and seemingly religious
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rather than erotic in function.
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It has no real personality
or energy or emotion,
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but it clearly tells us a lot
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about the world in which it was produced.
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Around the third millennium BC,
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a very significant culture
emerged in the Cycladic Islands
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in the Aegean basin.
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And although their
function remains a mystery,
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numerous small stone
female nude sculptures
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were subsequently
discovered, like this one.
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This one actually dates
from about 2,000 years
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before the birth of Christ.
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But what we see is a work
of art in stark contrast
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to the Venus of Willendorf.
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It's a female figure, but
instead of the voluptuous
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fertility of the Venus, what we see here
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is something much more pared down.
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Her face is a simple disk with
a protuberance for a nose.
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Her breasts are barely emerging bumps.
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And her pudendae here is
a simply incised triangle.
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Turning it round, we see that
there's very little detail.
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Where the legs end, the back begins.
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And it seems to me that
this is emphatically a work
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that was produced to be
viewed from the front.
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It's a work that seems to
adhere to certain rules.
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It's geometric, it's almost a series
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of interlocking or simplified shapes.
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And Cycladic art, like
Egyptian, seems to be the result
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of a very carefully calculated
or worked out formula.
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And also seems to be
the result of a rigid,
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very ordered society.
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(gentle music)
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About 500 years before the birth of Christ
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comes the crucial moment
in the history of the nude,
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because Greek traders
who've been to Egypt,
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who've seen freestanding sculptures,
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come back to the Greek
islands and start to produce
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a brand of art that is much
closer to the naturalism
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that we would recognize today.
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And pieces like this here
at the British Museum,
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it's a korous, which is Greek
for young boy or young man,
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from about 475 BC, and perfectly
emblematic of that idea.
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Now, I'm not saying for a minute
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that this is totally naturalistic.
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The face in particular is very stylized,
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but the body, well, it's almost sublime.
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There's a sense of muscle and sinew,
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of a dynamic, vibrant,
pulsating, living body
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buried somewhere close to the
surface of the stone itself.
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And instead of as the Egyptians had done
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of producing stylized images
where there are amalgamated
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views of a body condensed into one,
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what we have here is a body as if seen
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from a fixed perspective,
but it's a real natural body.
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The maleness is crucial.
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What this sculpture proclaims
and what Greek sculpture
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of this period in general
proclaimed was the superiority
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both of the male, this was
a male-dominated society,
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and of the Greeks themselves.
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Why? What's happening?
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Well, Greece at this time,
and Athens in particular
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was creating the first golden urban age.
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In a single century from 500 BC to 400 BC,
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Athens gave us democracy,
philosophy, history,
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science, drama, and art.
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To be precise, humanist art.
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Unlike the Egyptians, the Greeks
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experimented and improvised.
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And they created these
statements of their own
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racial and cultural superiority.
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Thucydides talks of nudity
as a mark of progress
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that distinguishes the modern
from the old-fashioned,
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the Greek from the non-Greek.
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This is crucially important.
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For us, nudity is often
only acceptable in art,
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though discouraged in society at large.
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In Greece, male nudity was
acceptable, at the gym,
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at athletics meetings, and
at the baths and so on.
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And therefore its
portrayal is a reflection
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of the society rather than of eroticism.
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The Greek city-states were
militaristic societies
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despite their arts and sciences.
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And it was on warfare that
their success depended.
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Soldiers and their
physical prowess were key.
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Statues glorified that
male militaristic strength
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and put it on a pedestal.
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We can see that even more
clearly with the discus thrower
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by the Greek sculptor Myron.
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This Roman copy of his
original captures the attempts
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to depict the man of action,
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a sculpture naked and
taught with athleticism,
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energy, vitality, and dynamism.
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It's another example
of the developing craft
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and technique of the period,
five centuries before Christ,
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but also a consistent subject
matter, to make beautiful,
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to glorify a healthy
body of a fit young man.
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The great philosopher
Socrates, himself trained
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as a sculptor, said that
artists should represent
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the workings of the soul
by accurately observing
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how feelings affect the body in action.
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Such statues were then
placed in public arenas,
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such as gymnasiums,
where the male clients,
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working out with their
dumbbells, could gaze in awe,
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and perhaps feel just a little inferior.
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- I think inevitably they were a form
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of "Men's Health" for their time.
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And I think possibly,
you know, the man looking
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at those images may well
have felt slightly insecure
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about their kind of ever-growing mid-rift,
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post-age of 30 or whatever,
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and being inspired to
get back there in the gym
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or on the running track again maybe.
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Because obviously for that culture,
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they were idealized body forms.
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And anyone looking at them would probably
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have compared their own
body with those ideals.
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(dramatic music)
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- The rise of the classic male
nude in the fifth century BC
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brings together a number of elements.
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Firstly, it's about the rising
self-confidence of an Athens
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that's just defeated Persia.
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Secondly, it's also about
that military force,
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and it's certainly true
that the musculature
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and the modeling of the
figures in the fifth century
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recall armor, recall the military youth
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that had won that victory.
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I think there's a very strong
way in which the Greeks nudes
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of the Classical period
do represent a form
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of what we might call
body fascism, in the sense
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that they represented the
ideal form of a human being.
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And that's very strong in
a culture which conceives
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of its gods also taking on human form.
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So this form of a man also carried with it
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the print of a god.
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- A fantastic example
is Alexander the Great
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in the fourth century before Christ,
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for the nude had become
supremely political.
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Man naked, unafraid,
perfectly toned, strong,
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showing self-mastery, and
implying mastery over others.
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Nakedness is complete freedom,
and so complete power.
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Here we see Alexander the
Great, the Macedonian king
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who conquered all of Greece and Persia,
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asserting his personal
power, with his portrait head
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placed on a semi-nude and godlike body.
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Ironically, however, it wasn't a male nude
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that rocked the classical
art world, but a female one.
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Tucked away in the corner
of the Louvre in Paris
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is probably the most famous sculpture
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of the ancient world, this
one, the Aphrodite of Knidos,
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produced 350 years before
the birth of Christ.
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And so famous was it that copies were made
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and it was seen all
over the ancient world.
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Now, we've seen that for the Greeks,
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male nudity was no problem.
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It was widespread, socially acceptable,
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and very much a reflection of the age
250
00:12:58,445 --> 00:13:00,238
in which the art was produced.
251
00:13:01,321 --> 00:13:03,532
But female nudity had a much more moral
252
00:13:03,532 --> 00:13:06,911
and religious problem, and
in fact, women and goddesses
253
00:13:06,911 --> 00:13:09,288
were rarely if ever shown fully nude
254
00:13:09,288 --> 00:13:11,957
until about the fourth century BC.
255
00:13:11,957 --> 00:13:15,419
And this is reputedly the
first full-length female nude.
256
00:13:16,712 --> 00:13:18,464
It shows the goddess Aphrodite,
257
00:13:18,464 --> 00:13:21,050
and was intended for religious purposes.
258
00:13:21,050 --> 00:13:22,634
But when it was presented to the people
259
00:13:22,634 --> 00:13:24,763
of the Island of Kos, they refused it
260
00:13:24,763 --> 00:13:26,346
because she was fully nude,
261
00:13:26,346 --> 00:13:28,640
and this was deemed to be immoral.
262
00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:30,017
Attitudes to the female nude
263
00:13:30,017 --> 00:13:32,227
were clearly different
to those of the male.
264
00:13:32,227 --> 00:13:35,065
In fact, Greek societies
held that the female nude
265
00:13:35,065 --> 00:13:38,859
was the male nude incomplete,
and therefore inferior.
266
00:13:38,859 --> 00:13:41,363
But this is the beginning
of a kind of eroticism
267
00:13:41,363 --> 00:13:43,323
that we can now recognize.
268
00:13:43,323 --> 00:13:45,908
This is a highly idealized view of beauty
269
00:13:45,908 --> 00:13:47,911
and a highly controlled
and submissive image
270
00:13:47,911 --> 00:13:49,453
of female sexuality.
271
00:13:50,662 --> 00:13:53,082
The Island of Kos found
it too hot to handle,
272
00:13:53,082 --> 00:13:56,085
so another island, Knidos,
said we'll have it.
273
00:13:57,628 --> 00:14:00,006
And such was its fame
that sailors from all over
274
00:14:00,006 --> 00:14:02,926
the Mediterranean would come
and stop off on the island
275
00:14:02,926 --> 00:14:05,386
apparently to see this statue.
276
00:14:05,386 --> 00:14:07,554
She was visible in the round.
277
00:14:07,554 --> 00:14:08,806
She was visible from all angles.
278
00:14:08,806 --> 00:14:11,725
And again, there's a rumor
passed down that the caretaker
279
00:14:11,725 --> 00:14:14,061
of the shrine used to
open up the back view
280
00:14:14,061 --> 00:14:16,481
so that her splendid
buttocks could be seen
281
00:14:16,481 --> 00:14:17,773
from a long way off.
282
00:14:18,941 --> 00:14:21,695
The other reason for the fame
or celebrity of this sculpture
283
00:14:21,695 --> 00:14:24,114
is because of the artist who produced it,
284
00:14:24,114 --> 00:14:27,282
a man called Praxiteles,
an Athenian by birth,
285
00:14:27,282 --> 00:14:28,909
who in some ways is the father
286
00:14:28,909 --> 00:14:31,496
of classical and modern sculpture.
287
00:14:31,496 --> 00:14:34,289
There are very few named or
celebrated or famous artists
288
00:14:34,289 --> 00:14:37,293
in the ancient world, and
plenty write of Praxiteles's
289
00:14:37,293 --> 00:14:39,587
legendary skill of being
able to turn marble
290
00:14:39,587 --> 00:14:41,840
into something very close to human flesh.
291
00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:43,257
And that's evident here.
292
00:14:47,053 --> 00:14:48,929
Originally, of course, this
sculpture would've had a head
293
00:14:48,929 --> 00:14:51,640
and arms, and we know
that the model for it
294
00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:53,058
was a woman called Phryne, a courtesan
295
00:14:53,058 --> 00:14:55,644
with whom Praxiteles fell in love.
296
00:14:55,644 --> 00:14:58,021
So not only is this a
sculpture that commemorates
297
00:14:58,021 --> 00:15:00,608
the goddess of love, but in
some ways it's a monument
298
00:15:00,608 --> 00:15:02,192
to individual artist's love,
299
00:15:02,192 --> 00:15:05,363
and there's a personalized
expression to a certain extent.
300
00:15:06,905 --> 00:15:10,493
But in the end we're left with
an idealized view of beauty.
301
00:15:12,746 --> 00:15:16,082
And such is Praxiteles's
reputation and skill
302
00:15:16,082 --> 00:15:17,959
that in fact the Louvre have a whole room
303
00:15:17,959 --> 00:15:20,210
devoted to his work.
304
00:15:20,210 --> 00:15:22,087
And looking around it, you realize
305
00:15:22,087 --> 00:15:24,049
that the nude is the major vehicle
306
00:15:24,049 --> 00:15:26,634
through which that reputation is spread.
307
00:15:26,634 --> 00:15:29,511
(mystical music)
308
00:15:47,237 --> 00:15:50,240
The most famous classical
sculpture now in the world
309
00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:53,702
is this one, the Venus de
Milo, here at the Louvre,
310
00:15:53,702 --> 00:15:56,705
and alongside the Mona
Lisa, the must-see works
311
00:15:56,705 --> 00:15:57,748
for the millions of visitors
312
00:15:57,748 --> 00:16:00,043
who come to this place every year.
313
00:16:00,043 --> 00:16:01,543
Why is it so famous?
314
00:16:01,543 --> 00:16:02,753
Well, when we first look at it,
315
00:16:02,753 --> 00:16:04,755
there is something that's
arresting about it.
316
00:16:04,755 --> 00:16:07,466
There's no doubt it's
sensual, that the lessons
317
00:16:07,466 --> 00:16:09,386
of Praxiteles have been
learnt, and in fact,
318
00:16:09,386 --> 00:16:12,346
scholars initially thought
that this was by Praxiteles.
319
00:16:12,346 --> 00:16:14,348
Then they thought it was
the fifth century BC,
320
00:16:14,348 --> 00:16:17,394
then the third, and then
maybe the first century BC.
321
00:16:17,394 --> 00:16:19,144
And that's roughly where
they've got it now,
322
00:16:19,144 --> 00:16:20,563
but they're still counting.
323
00:16:20,563 --> 00:16:22,689
And that elusiveness I think in some ways
324
00:16:22,689 --> 00:16:24,650
contributes to the sculpture's appeal.
325
00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:28,905
The drapery, which is a
symbol I think in Greek art,
326
00:16:28,905 --> 00:16:31,740
very much of skill, is
rather beautifully done.
327
00:16:31,740 --> 00:16:35,328
And there's a sense of a live
sensual body emerging out.
328
00:16:37,664 --> 00:16:40,082
The face is key, too,
it's rather formulaic
329
00:16:40,082 --> 00:16:42,627
in the way that it's produced,
as a lot of Greek art was.
330
00:16:42,627 --> 00:16:45,254
But the fact that she
has a face in some ways
331
00:16:45,254 --> 00:16:48,424
means that the public
can get closer to her.
332
00:16:48,424 --> 00:16:50,760
And those eyes, unlike the
Mona Lisa's, which are meant
333
00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:52,219
to follow you all the way around the room,
334
00:16:52,219 --> 00:16:54,054
they stare off into the distance.
335
00:16:54,054 --> 00:16:55,807
So there's always a sense of a woman,
336
00:16:55,807 --> 00:16:59,810
a nude woman that can't
quite be possessed.
337
00:16:59,810 --> 00:17:02,396
(upbeat piano music)
338
00:17:02,396 --> 00:17:04,440
So what we're seeing is the eroticization
339
00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:05,567
of the female nude.
340
00:17:05,567 --> 00:17:07,444
For the first time in history,
341
00:17:07,444 --> 00:17:11,239
the nude is becoming more
openly and deliberately sexual.
342
00:17:11,239 --> 00:17:14,241
This was accentuated by the
painting of some statues,
343
00:17:14,241 --> 00:17:16,369
known to be the faces of what we see
344
00:17:16,369 --> 00:17:19,455
as white marble sculptures,
which were boldly colored
345
00:17:19,455 --> 00:17:22,292
with our eyes tinted
blue and lips made red.
346
00:17:25,211 --> 00:17:27,337
Bronze statues were likewise altered
347
00:17:27,337 --> 00:17:30,090
and would've had eyes made
of bone and glass paste,
348
00:17:30,090 --> 00:17:33,218
simulated eyelashes, lips,
and nipples of copper,
349
00:17:33,218 --> 00:17:34,387
and silver teeth.
350
00:17:36,556 --> 00:17:38,558
It's uncertain whether
large parts of flesh
351
00:17:38,558 --> 00:17:40,184
would also have been painted.
352
00:17:40,184 --> 00:17:42,312
They may have been left free
to show the natural beauty
353
00:17:42,312 --> 00:17:45,440
of the marble, as is so
apparent on the Venus de Milo.
354
00:17:46,815 --> 00:17:49,568
She was found in 1820 on
the Greek Island of Melos,
355
00:17:49,568 --> 00:17:52,947
that was then being run by
the Turks, by a French boat
356
00:17:52,947 --> 00:17:54,949
that was looking for classical sculptures.
357
00:17:54,949 --> 00:17:57,284
And they found her on a
pile with a load of others
358
00:17:57,284 --> 00:17:59,661
about to be melted down for limestone.
359
00:17:59,661 --> 00:18:02,790
The arms seemingly had
already gone at that stage.
360
00:18:02,790 --> 00:18:05,292
And so that sense of her vulnerability,
361
00:18:05,292 --> 00:18:06,627
the fragmentation of her,
362
00:18:06,627 --> 00:18:08,837
the fact she was saved from obliteration,
363
00:18:08,837 --> 00:18:11,965
I think contributed to the
mystery of her and to her fame.
364
00:18:13,343 --> 00:18:15,969
It also gives the work a
sense of classical aging.
365
00:18:15,969 --> 00:18:18,889
And for some, it fetishizes
or concentrates us
366
00:18:18,889 --> 00:18:20,433
on the torso itself.
367
00:18:21,393 --> 00:18:25,312
Also in the 19th century,
the French, an aspiring
368
00:18:25,312 --> 00:18:28,649
imperial nation at that
time, wanted a Greek art
369
00:18:28,649 --> 00:18:31,777
to reinforce that sense of the imperial.
370
00:18:31,777 --> 00:18:34,948
The British had just got Elgin's
Marbles from the Parthenon.
371
00:18:34,948 --> 00:18:36,824
The French needed classical sculptures.
372
00:18:36,824 --> 00:18:39,869
And so this work was brought
back, put here in the Louvre,
373
00:18:39,869 --> 00:18:42,871
which was already the
most famous celebrated
374
00:18:42,871 --> 00:18:44,957
and large-scale museum in the world.
375
00:18:44,957 --> 00:18:48,293
And so she became an icon,
a symbol of French identity,
376
00:18:48,293 --> 00:18:50,254
and was promoted in that way.
377
00:18:50,254 --> 00:18:53,216
Also given the fact that the
great neoclassical sculptor
378
00:18:53,216 --> 00:18:55,301
Auguste Rodin praised her to the hilt
379
00:18:55,301 --> 00:18:57,928
when he first saw her, and
subsequently Salvador Dali,
380
00:18:57,928 --> 00:19:00,932
the surrealist maverick,
parodied her by producing a work
381
00:19:00,932 --> 00:19:03,600
in wood where her body
was a series of drawers.
382
00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:06,478
She then started to gain
a sense of notoriety.
383
00:19:06,478 --> 00:19:08,564
And it's that as much as anything else
384
00:19:08,564 --> 00:19:10,190
that makes this work so powerful.
385
00:19:10,190 --> 00:19:14,696
In some ways, this is the nude
as a symbol of museum power.
386
00:19:14,696 --> 00:19:18,366
(upbeat percussive music)
387
00:20:01,075 --> 00:20:03,286
The Greek Empire waned, to be replaced
388
00:20:03,286 --> 00:20:06,331
by the power of the emerging Roman Empire.
389
00:20:06,331 --> 00:20:08,291
But the idea of Greek art,
390
00:20:08,291 --> 00:20:10,960
and the nude in particular,
didn't diminish.
391
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,380
In fact, the Romans
were totally enthralled
392
00:20:13,380 --> 00:20:17,383
by the Greek ideal nude and
made slavish copies of it.
393
00:20:19,718 --> 00:20:23,055
And as Roman legions went
to Gaul, to the Balkans,
394
00:20:23,055 --> 00:20:26,392
to North Africa, all over
the Western world in fact,
395
00:20:26,392 --> 00:20:30,354
they took with them Greek
nudes to put in public places,
396
00:20:30,354 --> 00:20:32,023
wanting to exploit both images
397
00:20:32,023 --> 00:20:34,900
of male strength and female eroticism.
398
00:20:37,362 --> 00:20:39,822
- The Romans I think adopted Greek culture
399
00:20:39,822 --> 00:20:42,242
for two principal reasons.
400
00:20:42,242 --> 00:20:44,911
Firstly, Greek, and
particularly Greek art,
401
00:20:44,911 --> 00:20:47,621
offered them a language which Roman
402
00:20:47,621 --> 00:20:50,125
republican sculpture didn't.
403
00:20:50,125 --> 00:20:53,377
It offered them a language
of individual power,
404
00:20:53,377 --> 00:20:58,466
the naked male nude as ruler,
as individual, as king.
405
00:20:58,466 --> 00:21:01,135
That was very attractive
for Roman emperors,
406
00:21:01,135 --> 00:21:05,264
offering them a way of expressing
their power and supremacy.
407
00:21:05,264 --> 00:21:08,518
That really wasn't available in Roman art.
408
00:21:08,518 --> 00:21:11,813
The Romans I think
collected Greek sculpture
409
00:21:11,813 --> 00:21:16,067
partly as an expression
of their own superiority.
410
00:21:16,067 --> 00:21:19,862
In a sense, it's the way in
which American art galleries
411
00:21:19,862 --> 00:21:22,573
collect British or European art,
412
00:21:22,573 --> 00:21:27,035
because it's an expression of
American cultural superiority
413
00:21:27,035 --> 00:21:30,582
over an old world, which
is partly finished,
414
00:21:30,582 --> 00:21:32,667
but whose use is to be collected
415
00:21:32,667 --> 00:21:35,085
and displayed in the new.
416
00:21:35,085 --> 00:21:38,505
To display Greek sculpture
in Rome was partly
417
00:21:38,505 --> 00:21:42,426
to assert Roman superiority over Greece.
418
00:21:42,426 --> 00:21:46,555
Greece was now good for a
museum, but it was no longer
419
00:21:46,555 --> 00:21:49,808
politically active or a military threat.
420
00:21:49,808 --> 00:21:54,022
(slow percussive music)
421
00:21:54,022 --> 00:21:56,774
- Subsequent cultures,
often for religious reasons,
422
00:21:56,774 --> 00:21:59,778
considered it a pious
duty to smash any statue
423
00:21:59,778 --> 00:22:01,321
of the heathen gods.
424
00:22:01,321 --> 00:22:04,157
The sculptures in our
museums are for the most part
425
00:22:04,157 --> 00:22:07,077
only secondhand copies made
for travelers and collectors
426
00:22:07,077 --> 00:22:09,454
as souvenirs, and as decorations
427
00:22:09,454 --> 00:22:11,748
for gardens or public baths.
428
00:22:11,748 --> 00:22:14,334
But Roman copies of
Greek statues do show us
429
00:22:14,334 --> 00:22:18,171
some of the skill and the
amazing naturalism and detail
430
00:22:18,171 --> 00:22:20,715
which we know characterized
the original works.
431
00:22:24,593 --> 00:22:27,180
What we also know is
that nude art remained
432
00:22:27,180 --> 00:22:29,515
more or less unchanged
while the Romans conquered
433
00:22:29,515 --> 00:22:32,686
the Western world and
founded their empire.
434
00:22:32,686 --> 00:22:35,188
Most artists who worked
in Rome were Greeks,
435
00:22:35,188 --> 00:22:37,148
and most Roman collectors bought works
436
00:22:37,148 --> 00:22:38,816
of the great Greek masters.
437
00:22:41,276 --> 00:22:43,695
Based on their art, there's
a common misconception
438
00:22:43,695 --> 00:22:47,032
that the Greeks and Romans
fought, ate, and slept naked,
439
00:22:47,032 --> 00:22:48,618
which of course they didn't.
440
00:22:48,618 --> 00:22:50,829
But it's fair to say that
their attitudes to nudity
441
00:22:50,829 --> 00:22:53,039
were very different to ours.
442
00:22:53,039 --> 00:22:54,832
Often, however, we miss the point
443
00:22:54,832 --> 00:22:57,127
because we're so influenced
by our own definitions
444
00:22:57,127 --> 00:22:59,837
of art, eroticism, and pornography.
445
00:23:01,046 --> 00:23:03,967
Nevertheless, in first
and second century Rome,
446
00:23:03,967 --> 00:23:06,635
there was a relaxed attitude to nudity.
447
00:23:06,635 --> 00:23:09,097
There was mixed public
bathing, for example.
448
00:23:09,097 --> 00:23:12,099
And these statues, frescoes,
mosaics, and paintings
449
00:23:12,099 --> 00:23:15,394
were all around, in public
as much as in private.
450
00:23:16,813 --> 00:23:19,982
Some were uncomfortable
though with such imagery.
451
00:23:19,982 --> 00:23:22,526
The debate within Roman
society about the invasion
452
00:23:22,526 --> 00:23:24,862
of all things Greek provides the first
453
00:23:24,862 --> 00:23:27,531
clearly attested instance
in European history
454
00:23:27,531 --> 00:23:29,992
of debates over censorship.
455
00:23:29,992 --> 00:23:32,077
Greek art, it was argued by some,
456
00:23:32,077 --> 00:23:34,163
had a corrupting influence.
457
00:23:34,163 --> 00:23:36,833
The fact that the pro-Greek
lobby won the debate
458
00:23:36,833 --> 00:23:38,751
had enormous implications for the course
459
00:23:38,751 --> 00:23:41,588
of European culture, and specifically,
460
00:23:41,588 --> 00:23:43,338
for the nude in Western art.
461
00:23:44,924 --> 00:23:47,135
Images of the ideal nude human body
462
00:23:47,135 --> 00:23:50,429
were widely disseminated
throughout the Western world.
463
00:23:50,429 --> 00:23:52,223
They were reflections of and emblems of
464
00:23:52,223 --> 00:23:54,725
Greek and Roman civilizations.
465
00:23:54,725 --> 00:23:57,936
But those classical civilizations
were about to be overtaken
466
00:23:57,936 --> 00:24:00,273
by a new force throughout the West,
467
00:24:00,273 --> 00:24:02,359
which was to change everything.
468
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:03,526
Christianity.
469
00:24:03,526 --> 00:24:06,237
(upbeat music)
38481
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