Fabulous Renaissance Nudes!

I just learned something hilarious!  You know all those Renaissance paintings of gorgeous nude women that are supposed to be examples of high art and a celebration of the human form and so on?  Most of them were in fact, and I quote, "painted to meet a vigorous demand for bedroom paintings depicting erotic nudes in salacious poses." (Jardine, Lisa: Worldly Goods, London, W.W. Norton & Company; 1996)  That's right.  It was Renaissance porn.  They have letters from people boasting about them.  "My nude is better than yours!" Or rather, "My Venus surpasses thine in excellence and grace...and in the breadth of her...thou knowest..."

Yup.  This is no longer fine art, guys.  Sorry.