The beauty of the female body has been and remains a desired object for depiction by artists of all times and peoples.

Of course, the Renaissance gave us the most picturesque nudity, when the magnificence of naked bodies was vigorously glorified according to ancient canons. However, the masters of later times are in no way inferior in skillful presentation female image. The techniques and places against which the maidens were depicted changed, and the muses themselves began to acquire different features over time. But the depiction of female nature is still a special topic that excites the consciousness of all fans of natural beauty.

Sandro Botticelli

"Birth of Venus" 1482-1486

Peter Paul Rubens

Rubens was an excellent portrait painter, painted landscapes and paintings on religious themes, founded the Baroque style, but the general public knows Rubens best from his images of naked women and men, to put it mildly, of not asthenic physique.

"Union of land and water", 1618

"The Three Graces", 1639

Francisco Goya

"Maja Nude", circa 1800

Not everyone knows that Maha is not a name at all, but a name for Spanish common townswomen of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Maha, whose image developed in Andalusia, over time began to be perceived as the quintessence of the Spanish woman. Because of romanticism, picturesqueness, a strong national accent and violent passion.

Eugene Delacroix

"Liberty Leading the People", 1830

Delacroix created the painting based on the July Revolution of 1830, which put an end to the Restoration regime of the Bourbon monarchy. In a letter to his brother on October 12, 1830, Delacroix writes: “If I did not fight for my Motherland, then at least I will write for it.”

There are naked breasts in the picture for a reason. It symbolizes the dedication of the French people of that time, who went bare-chested against the enemy.

Jules Joseph Lefebvre

Lefebvre was a French salon artist who specialized in depicting beautiful girls. It was thanks to the depiction of female beauty that he took a very prominent place as an elegant, although somewhat mannered, draftsman.

"Mary Magdalene in the Grotto", 1836

The painting “Mary Magdalene in the Grotto” has its own special story. After the exhibition in 1876, it was bought by Alexandre Dumas the son. After his death, it was sent to St. Petersburg for an exhibition in 1896. Nicholas II acquired it for the Winter Palace and now “Mary Magdalene” can be seen among the treasures of the Hermitage.

Edouard Manet

At the Paris Salon of 1865, the painting became the cause of one of the biggest scandals in the history of art. Contemporaries could not see the volume of the depicted figure and considered the composition of the picture to be rough and flat. Manet was accused of immorality and vulgarity. The painting attracted hundreds of people who came to the exhibition only to curse the painting and spit on it. As a result, the painting was hung in the farthest hall of the Salon at such a height that it was almost invisible. How nervous people were in those days.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Renoir is known primarily as a master secular portrait, not devoid of sentimentality; he was the first of the impressionists to gain success among wealthy Parisians. The nude was one of Renoir's favorite genres.

"Nude in sunlight", 1876

First shown at the Second Impressionist Exhibition in 1876, where it received very harsh reviews from critics: “Instill in Mr. Renoir that the female body is not a pile of decaying flesh with green and purple spots, which indicate that the corpse is already rotting in full swing!”

"Big Bathers", 1887

And this picture marked Renoir’s transition from pure impressionism towards classicism and engrism. “Large Bathers” is made with clearer lines, cooler colors, and when painting this painting, Renoir used sketches and sketches for the first time.

Vladislav Podkovinsky

"Female Orgasm", 1894

From the title it is clear that in his work he depicted Polish artist Vladislav Podkovinsky... The exhibition of the painting began with a huge scandal and lasted for 36 days. Unable to withstand the pressure, on the 37th day Podkovinsky came with a knife and cut up the entire canvas. The artist died of tuberculosis at the age of 29. After his death, it was decided to restore the painting.

Adolphe-William Bouguereau

John Collier

The range of themes in the paintings of the English painter Collier is very wide. However, he gained the greatest popularity due to the use in the truly romantic tradition of images of beautiful women from legends, myths, literature and history as the main theme for his paintings.

Lady Godiva was based on the legend. The naked beauty depicted in the painting (Lady Godiva) begged her powerful and domineering husband (Count Leofric) to reduce taxes on the poor in his domain. To which he offered an almost losing bet. He promised to reduce taxes if his lady rode through the village of Coventry naked on a horse, which his wife did.

Herbert James Draper

"Odysseus and the Sirens", 1909

David Shterenberg

"Nude", 1908

Gustav Klimt

All details related to the mythological plot are removed from the picture, leaving only the scene of fertilization by the golden shower into which Zeus turned. The choice of pose and distorted perspective give Danae's body an unusual sexuality.

In no other work has the artist brought female sexuality to such hypertrophy - this is self-absorbed lust.

Herbert James Draper

Herbert James Draper was an artist famous for his works on historical and mythological themes. Although Draper received acclaim during his lifetime, his work is now unfairly forgotten and rarely seen at auction.

"Mountain of Mists", 1912

"Mountain of Mists" is one of the most powerful, sensual and enchanting of all the artist's images. The naked girls presented are as beautiful as Waterhouse's nymphs, although unlike his femme fatales luring men to their deaths.

Boris Kustodiev

Picturesque plasticity, emphasis on the artistry of the model and bright characteristics of appearance - these are the main features of Boris Kustodiev’s work.

"Russian Venus" 1925-1926

“Russian Venus” depicts a plump woman in a bathhouse, but unlike the goddess, the naked girl is surrounded not by sea foam, but by clouds of steam from a Russian bathhouse. Rainbow bubbles on a wooden bench confirm that this is Venus. The goddess was born from the foam of the Mediterranean Sea! And here in Russia - from bath foam...

Amedeo Modigliani

Modigliani is rightfully considered the singer of the beauty of the naked female body. He was one of the first to depict nudes in a more emotionally realistic manner. It was this circumstance that at one time led to the lightning closure of his first personal exhibition in Paris. Modigliani's nude paintings are considered the pearl of his creative heritage.

"Seated Nude", 1916

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele's paintings and graphics are nervous, sophisticated, dramatic and very sexy. Strongly influenced by the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, Schiele gave free rein to his own complexes and doubts in his work, and many of his works were overtly sexual in nature. This even led to the artist’s imprisonment for “creating immoral drawings.”

"Nude on her knees", 1917

"Reclining Woman", 1917

Anders Zorn

A Swedish painter and graphic artist who paid special attention to the individuality of the nude model, the originality of her facial expressions, gestures, and facial expressions, which are sharply captured in his works.

"In Werner's rowing boat", 1917

"Reflections", 1889

Zinaida Serebryakova

Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova is one of the first Russian women to go down in the history of painting. Using pictorial means, the artist presented the image of a pure female body. Her models did not have an athletic build; there was no rigidity or sharpness in them, but only a smooth harmony with the environment.

In “Bath”, Serebryakova depicted naked women without embellishment; features of idealization appeared in her work later.

“Reclining Nude”, portrait of Nevedomskaya, 1935

IN late creativity Serebryakova became increasingly interested in the theme of works depicting nude models, and Serebryakova remained faithful to the “nude” genre. In “Reclining Nude” she feels that she succeeds in this theme and addresses it constantly.

"Sleeping model", 1941

Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar

Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar is one of the most famous artists in the history of Russian culture of the 20th century. One of his most famous works is the portrait of Flora.

Alexander Mikhailovich Gerasimov

Another famous Russian artist who, unlike the previous one, dealt with the depiction of rough and simplified erotica.

"Village bathhouse", 1938

The artist wrote many sketches “for himself” on the theme of “Village Bath” over many years. The painting contains several naked female bodies connected by a complex structural composition. Each figure is an image, an individual character.

Arkady Alexandrovich Plastov

Arkady Plastov - “singer of the Soviet peasantry.” In his works he paid special attention to the patriotic work of women during the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War. Colorful image and the artist captured simplicity in the painting “Tractor Drivers”

"Tractor Drivers", 1943

At the beginning of the twentieth century, our calendar appeared new holiday, the name of which sounded like a revolutionary slogan: “International Women’s Day of solidarity of working women in the struggle for equal rights.”
Fortunately, over time, this day has acquired a completely different meaning, and for us, March 8 is a holiday of female beauty and charm.

Wanting to combine the historical with the pleasant, we have collected several paintings of sweet, flirtatious and strong working women from great artists - eternal captives of female beauty and virtues!

Alexey Venetsianov, a native of Moscow, first visited the village at the age of 35, when after his wedding the newlyweds went to visit their wife's parents in the Tver province.

The artist was so fascinated by nature that he immediately had a desire to settle among the Russian expanses and he bought an estate in Safonovka.

It is here that he paints the painting “On the Plowed Field”. All of Venetsianov’s work is permeated with poetry; his paintings, dedicated to peasant life, idealize village life.

Since childhood, Zinaida Serebryakova has been in love with Venetsianov’s paintings. In her early paintings one can feel an invisible connection with the work of the Russian everyday life writer. Venetsianov’s peasant women, a hundred years later, seem to continue to live in her paintings.

The artist’s village girls are majestic, with a regal bearing; they leisurely make daily work- true poetry of spirituality!

Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova "Harvest"
1915, 177×142 cm.

The paintings “Harvest” and “Whitening Canvas” are classified as the best works Zinaida Serebryakova. They were written on the Neskuchnoye family estate in the Kharkov province, where the Serebryakov family spent summer and autumn since 1898.

In 1914, after a long trip to the North of Italy, Zinaida arrived in Neskuchnoye and immediately began working on the painting “Harvest.”

The study of the work of artists of the Italian Renaissance, only recently seen in museums and galleries, is felt in the classically constructed composition, and the monumentality of the forms emphasizes the beauty female figures against the backdrop of a landscape with wheat fields stretching unevenly beyond the horizon.
These paintings are considered the last idyllic paintings of pre-revolutionary Russia.

Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova." Whitening the canvas "
1917, 141.8×173.6 cm.

Lace, powder, lipstick - everything a charming woman needs...

French ladies also work tirelessly on artists' paintings. During the Rococo era, the most fashionable profession for city women was that of a milliner.

Elegant and luxurious outfits, corsets, embroidery and lace were all women's thoughts, because it was necessary to keep up with the trendsetter Madame Pompadour!

And the fantasies of young maidens were embodied by jacks of all trades - milliners. Francois Boucher in the painting “The Milliner” seems to be sneaking a peek into the room and spying on the ladies who are discussing the future model.

Francois Boucher. "The Milliner"
53x64 cm.

In the 18th century, during the Enlightenment in France, it was customary in art to praise and affirm the virtues of the third estate, and in painting in good form simplicity and naturalness were considered.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze in the film “The Laundress” not only depicts a graceful and charming young worker - in this way he glorifies hard work.

In Russia in the second half of the 18th century, Grez became a fashionable artist, the noble nobility vied with each other to order portraits from him, Empress Catherine II herself, on the advice of Diderot, purchased the painting “The Paralytic” from the artist.

Of course, such popularity of Greuze’s work did not go unnoticed by Russian painting; his paintings had a great influence on Russian portraiture.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze "The Laundress"
1761, 32×40 cm.

Lacemakers

Vasily Tropinin was called “Russian Dreams” for his charming female portraits. For the first time in Russian painting he created new type genre portrait - a poetic image of a girl at work.

The young beauties in the paintings “The Lacemaker” and “The Goldsmith,” busy with their work, take their eyes off their work for a moment and look slyly at the viewer.

Vasily Andreevich Tropinin. "The Goldsmith"
1826, 64×81 cm.

Tropinin was a serf artist and only at the age of 47 received his freedom. It is symbolic that it was 1823, the year of writing “The Lacemaker,” that brought the artist both freedom and official recognition.

This year he shows his works at the Academy of Arts for the first time, and the artist is awarded the title of “appointed academician.” Thus, an intimate portrait of a city woman brought freedom and success to its creator.

Tropinin "The Lacemaker"

Homemaker

Housekeeping has always been on women's shoulders and kitchen chores are a direct responsibility. For some this is a blessing, but for many it is a hassle. For the heroine of the film “The Cook” by Bernardo Strozzi, this is a duty and a sacred rite.

You can ask yourself many questions when looking at a picture. For example, why is a young girl gutting a bird wearing an elegant dress and beads? Does she have a large family, because dinner involves a fair amount of dishes?

Who is depicted in the picture - maybe the artist depicted his wife and that’s why she looks at the viewer so affectionately? This option is quite possible: Strozzi’s paintings of everyday subjects are very rare, and he could well have made an exception for his wife.

Bernardo Strozzi "The Cook"
1625, 185×176 cm.

Author of the picture - Italian artist Baroque era with a remarkable biography. Strozzi's adventurous character was reflected in all his activities: in his youth he joined the Capuchin Order and became a priest, then studied painting in the workshop of the Genoese artist Sorri and at the same time worked as a naval engineer in the Genoese fleet.

Later, the artist escaped from the monastery and hid from persecution by the monks in Venice. But Strozzi never gave up painting. His main theme was portraits, religious and mythological scenes, and his creative style was greatly influenced by the painting of Caravaggio.

The “profession” of a shepherdess was once very popular and artists often turned to it. We find a touching image of a middle-aged shepherdess in the works of Van Gogh, who painted ordinary villagers with special warmth and love.

Look at the color of the picture: yellow wheat fields- the color of the sun and warmth, softly contrasted with the blue cape of the shepherdess, is a frequent technique in the artist’s works, but it does not evoke disturbing feelings, as in his other paintings.

Van Gogh conveys his feelings unusually accurately with shades of color. No matter what whirlwinds rage around, the woman is calm and submissive to her difficult fate... And our dominant and sincere feeling when we see this picture is “empathy.”

Vincent Van Gogh. "Cowgirl"
1889, 52.7×40.7 cm.
The artist created this work during treatment in Saint-Rémy in the south of France. During this period of 1889-1890, he studied the work of the founder of the Barbizon school, Jean Francois Millet, and during this time he made copies of 23 of his paintings, including “The Shepherdess” (although it is difficult to call Van Gogh’s painting a copy).

Vincent writes to his brother about his occupation:
“I assure you that I am terribly interested in making copies, and since I do not have models now, I will not abandon work on the figure with the help of these copies.
I use black and white reproductions of Delacroix and Millet as if they were real life subjects. And then I improvise the color, although of course not exactly as if I did it myself, but trying to remember their paintings.
However, this “remembering”, the unclear harmony of their colors... is my interpretation.”

Comparing the paintings of the two artists, it seems that Van Gogh painted the shepherdess in his imagination.

Millet "Shepherdess" 1, Millet "Shepherdess" 2.

Jean Baptiste Chardin observed the lives of ordinary townspeople and wrote stories from them. everyday life. The painting “The Laundress” exudes a quiet homely comfort, where everything is warmed by the cares of the hostess.

While mom is doing the laundry, the son is busy with his simple fun. Children's images are always present in Chardin's paintings, emphasizing the love of a mother for her child. Demonstration of these relationships helps him create a spiritual atmosphere of warmth and a modest, but significant and fulfilling life for the townspeople.

Women's labor in the artist's paintings is equated to noble work done with special diligence and love.

Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin. "The Laundress"

Socialist Labor editorials - we new world let's build it!

Women are mastering new professions in Soviet country. With us, they are not just some Western fashionistas - soviet woman maybe build a metro!

In the graphic series of the 1930s by Alexander Samokhvalov, portraits of girls who worked as subway workers embodied the ideal of socialist labor.

Enthusiasm, youthful energy, optimism and strength are overflowing in these works - we will build a new country. Here she is with a drill, with a shovel, beautiful, strong and happy, she can do anything!

The artist joined the ideological path of the country; he sincerely believes in universal creation for the benefit of a bright future. And the artist’s spiritual impulses are quite tangible matter, just look at the works!

Publications in the Museums section

The fates of beauties from famous portraits

We know them by sight and admire their beauty in the prime of youth. But how did these women live after the painting was completed? Sometimes their fate turns out to be surprising. Remembering with Sofia Bagdasarova.

Sarah Fermor

AND I. Vishnyakov. Portrait of Sarah Eleanor Fermor. Around 1749–1750. Russian Museum

Vishnyakov's painting is one of the most beautiful examples of Russian Rococo and one of the most famous portraits of the era of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Particularly impressive is the contrast between the childish charm of a 10-year-old girl and the fact that she tries to do everything “like an adult”: she takes the correct pose, holds her fan according to etiquette, carefully maintains her posture in a courtier’s corset dresses.

Sarah is the daughter of General Willim Fermor, a Russified Scot in Russian service. He took it to us Koenigsberg and all of East Prussia, and in the civil service after the fire he rebuilt the classic Tver in the form that delights us now. Sarah's mother was also from a Scottish family - from the Bruces, and was the niece of the famous Jacob Bruce, “the sorcerer from the Sukharev Tower.”

Sarah was married late at that time, at the age of 20, to her peer Jacob Pontus Stenbock, a representative of a Swedish count family (one Swedish queen even came from it). The Stenbocks had by that time moved to Russian Estland. The couple lived, frankly, quite well: suffice it to say that their palace in Tallinn now houses the premises of the Estonian Prime Minister and the government meeting room. Sarah, according to some indications, became the mother of nine children and died under Emperor Alexander I - either in 1805, or even in 1824.

Maria Lopukhina

V.L. Borovikovsky. Portrait of M.I. Lopukhina. 1797. Tretyakov Gallery

Borovikovsky painted many portraits of Russian noblewomen, but this one is the most charming. In it, all the master’s techniques are applied so skillfully that we don’t even notice exactly how we are bewitched, how the charm of this young lady is created, to whom almost a hundred years later Yakov Polonsky dedicated poetry (“... but Borovikovsky saved her beauty”).

Lopukhina is 18 years old in the portrait. Her ease and slightly arrogant look seem either to be a common pose for such a portrait of the era of sentimentalism, or signs of a melancholic and poetic disposition. But we don’t know what her character really was. Moreover, Maria, it turns out, was the sister of Fyodor Tolstoy (American), famous for his defiant behavior. Surprisingly, if you look at the portrait of her brother in his youth ( State Museum of L.N. Tolstoy), then we will see the same impressiveness and relaxation.

The portrait was commissioned by her husband, Stepan Lopukhin, shortly after the wedding. Lopukhin was older than Maria for 10 years and came from a wealthy and noble family. Six years after painting the picture, the girl died from consumption. Ten years later, her husband also died. Since they were childless, the painting was inherited by the only surviving daughter of Fyodor Tolstoy, from whom Tretyakov bought it in the 1880s.

Giovannina Pacini

K.P. Bryullov. Rider. 1832. Tretyakov Gallery

Bryullov’s “Horsewoman” is brilliant ceremonial portrait, in which everything is luxurious - the brightness of the colors, the splendor of the draperies, and the beauty of the models. Russian academicism has something to be proud of.

On it are written two girls who bore the surname Pacini: the eldest Giovannina is sitting on a horse, the younger Amatzilia is looking at her from the porch. But whether they had the right to this surname is still not clear. The painting was ordered to Karl Bryullov, her long-time lover, by their adoptive mother, Countess Yulia Samoilova, one of the most beautiful women Russia and heir to the colossal fortune of Skavronsky, Litt and Potemkin. Having left her first husband, Samoilova went to live in Italy, where both Rossini and Bellini visited her salon. The countess did not have her own children, although she married twice more, once to a young and handsome Italian singer Peri.

By official version, Giovannina and Amazilia were sisters - the daughters of the author of the opera “The Last Day of Pompeii”, composer Giovanni Pacini, a friend (and, according to rumors, lover) of the countess. She took them into her home after his death. However, judging by the documents, Pacini had only one daughter, the youngest of the girls. Who was the eldest? There is a version that she was born out of wedlock by the sister of that same tenor Peri, Samoilova’s second husband. Or maybe the countess and the girl had a closer relationship family connection... It is not for nothing that “The Horsewoman” was first considered a portrait of the Countess herself. Having matured, Giovannina married an Austrian officer, captain of the hussar regiment Ludwig Aschbach, and went with him to Prague. Samoilova guaranteed her a large dowry. However, since the countess went bankrupt in her old age (she had to pay huge alimony to her third husband, a French aristocrat), both “daughters” collected the promised money from the old woman “mother” through a lawyer. Samoilova died in poverty in Paris, but the further fate of her students is unknown.

Elizaveta Martynova

K.A. Somov. Lady in blue. 1897–1900. Tretyakov Gallery

“Lady in Blue” by Somov - one of the symbols of painting Silver Age, in the words of art critic Igor Grabar - “La Gioconda of our time”. As in the paintings of Borisov-Musatov, there is not only the enjoyment of beauty, but also admiration of the fading charm of landowner Russia.

Elizaveta Martynova, who posed for Somov in the portrait, was apparently one of the artist’s few female crushes. The artist met her, the daughter of a doctor, while studying at the Imperial Academy of Arts- she was among the students in the 1890 intake, when women were first allowed to enroll educational institution. Surprisingly, it seems that Martynova’s own works have not survived. However, her portraits were painted not only by Somov, but also by Philip Malyavin and Osip Braz. Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva studied with her, who in her memoirs casually noted that although Martynova was always described as a tall, stately beauty, in reality she was short. The artist’s character was emotional, proud and easily vulnerable.

Somov painted her several times: in 1893 in watercolor in profile, two years later in pencil, and in 1897 he created a small portrait of her in oil against a background spring landscape (Astrakhan Art Gallery). He created the same picture intermittently for three years: the artist spent two of them in Paris, and Martynov was on for a long time settled in Tyrol. The treatment did not help: about four years after finishing the painting, she died of consumption at the age of about 36. She apparently had no family

Galina Aderkas

B.M. Kustodiev. Merchant's wife having tea. 1918. Russian Museum

Although Kustodiev’s “Merchant’s Wife at Tea” was written in the post-revolutionary year of 1918, for us it is a real illustration of that bright and well-fed Russia, where there are fairs, carousels and the “crunch of French bread.” However, Kustodiev after the revolution he did not change his favorite subjects: for a person chained to the end of his life wheelchair, it became a form of escapism.

Galina Aderkas, a natural baroness from a family that traces its history back to a Livonian knight of the 13th century, posed for the merchant's wife in this portrait-picture. One of the baronesses von Aderkas was even Anna Leopoldovna’s teacher.

In Astrakhan, Galya Aderkas was the Kustodievs' housemate, from the sixth floor; The artist’s wife brought the girl to the studio after noticing the colorful model. During this period, Aderkas was very young, a first-year medical student. And to be honest, in the sketches her figure looks much thinner and not so impressive. She studied, as they say, surgery, but her passion for music took her into another field. The owner of an interesting mezzo-soprano, in Soviet years Aderkas sang as part of the Russian choir at the Music Broadcasting Directorate of the All-Union Radio Committee, participated in dubbing films, but did not achieve much success. She married, apparently, a certain Boguslavsky and, possibly, began performing in the circus. In the Manuscript Department Pushkin House There are even handwritten memoirs authored by G.V. Aderkas, entitled “Circus is my world...”. What her fate was like in the 30s and 40s is unknown.

ANTIQUITY

Women Egypt were more free and independent than women in other countries - not only Ancient World, but also Europe: from the Middle Ages to late XIX century. However, the so-called "gender equality" in Ancient Egypt was absent - because according to the world order established by Maat, the vital essence of men and women is different. The men of Egypt worshiped women, admired them, and cared for them. At the same time, naturally, demanding attention and respect from them. In traditional Egyptian art, women were most often represented as a loving wife holding her husband's hand or hugging his shoulder. Since the men worked for fresh air in the fields or by the river, their skin was dark, while the women working in a room protected from the scorching sun were light. According to fine arts, Egyptian women are usually presented as fragile and graceful.

Cretan the women had an unnaturally narrow waist, were short in stature and graceful in build. They hid their faces in the shadows, which made their skin pale, and against its background were black eyes and hair. Women wore curls that framed the neck, curls gathered on the forehead, or braids with woven ribbons. Cretan women wore fluffy hats on their heads (similar to those of the 19th century). Feet were often bare, but upper-class women sometimes wore embroidered leather shoes.

Fragment of the back of Tutankhamun's throne

Painting in the Knossos Palace. Crete

Painting in Pompeii

Fayum portrait.Egypt

MIDDLE AGES

The Middle Ages gave women a very modest, if not insignificant, place in the orderly edifice of the social hierarchy. Patriarchal instinct, traditions preserved since the times of barbarism, and finally, religious orthodoxy - all this prompted medieval man a very wary attitude towards women. The use of cosmetics and jewelry was considered an integral attribute of female “sinfulness” - both were severely condemned by the church. There was even a special resolution according to which a marriage concluded with the help of women’s “tricks” - cosmetics, dresses, etc. was considered fraudulent, illegal and could be dissolved.

REVIVAL

The human personality is mediated in the Renaissance not by God, but by beauty and, above all, feminine beauty. For the first time in human history, a woman occupies an exclusive place, like the Madonna on the throne.
This is where the endless string of Madonnas come from, gradually turning into simply portraits of young women of the era. The Renaissance woman is nobility, beauty and education.

Van Eyck

Botticelli -Madonna Magnificat (Glorification of the Madonna)

Botticelli - Birth of Venus

El Greco

Raffaello

Raffaello

Bronzino

da Vinci - Lady with an ermine

Yes Vinci - Madonna Litta

da Vinci - Mona Lisa

Cristofano Allori

Giorgione - Sleeping Venus

BAROQUE

In the Baroque era (late 16th-17th centuries), naturalness again went out of fashion. It is being replaced by stylization and theatricality. The heyday of the Baroque came during the reign of the French “Sun King” Louis XIV. From then on, the French court began to dictate fashion throughout Europe. Female body in the Baroque period, as before, it should be “rich” with a “swan” neck, wide shoulders thrown back and curvy hips. But the waist should now be as thin as possible, and whalebone corsets are coming into fashion. Lush, frilly clothes have long become one of the main elements of female irresistibility. Parade appearance most clearly manifested in the widespread use of luxurious collars and wigs, which existed among the nobility for almost three centuries.

Rubens

Rubens with his wife

van Meer

Rembrandt

Rembrandt - Saskia

ROCOCO

IN early XVIII V. The Rococo era begins, and the female silhouette changes again. Now the woman should resemble a fragile porcelain figurine. The solemn pomp of Baroque is replaced by grace, lightness and playfulness. At the same time, theatricality and unnaturalness do not go away - on the contrary, they reach their peak. Both men and women take on a doll-like appearance. The Rococo beauty has narrow shoulders and a thin waist, a small bodice contrasting with a huge round skirt. The neckline increases and the skirt shortens somewhat. In this regard, close attention is beginning to be paid to underwear. Stockings are in fashion, and the petticoat is richly decorated. From now on it was considered quite decent to expose a woman's breasts, touch them and kiss them. Modesty only caused ridicule: since a girl is ashamed, it means she has nothing to boast about. The ladies constantly found a reason to show their breasts - either a rose fell and pricked, or a flea bit - “look!” A popular entertainment for the nobility were also unique beauty contests, where ladies shamelessly lifted their hems and opened their bodices. Gallant ladies put so much makeup on their faces that, they say, husbands often did not recognize their wives.

Francois Boucher - Portrait of Louise O'Murphy

Francois Boucher

Fragonard -Swing

ROMANTICISM

Imitation of antique clothing also changed the silhouette of a woman. The dress acquires clear proportions and smooth lines. The main clothing of fashionistas has become the snow-white shmiz - a linen shirt with a large neckline, short sleeves, narrowed in the front and loosely enveloping the figure below. The belt moved right under the chest. Empire style was one of the last clearly defined styles, dictating relatively clear canons of beauty and fashion. WITH beginning of the 19th century century, fashion begins to change so rapidly that you can only catch some of the brightest trends.