Her arms and bosom leaning on a pillow
Jun 30th, 2008 by admin
it is time for Icon of Erotic Art #30.
Painting of by c.
Many of the we have featured have been out of the mainstream, even . Not for today's icon. It is one of the first works one encounters when studying the history of eroticism in art. It celebrates the trope of the big and beautiful woman, an art later perfected by .
Casanova remarked on this painting and its model which he claims to have known:
The position in which he painted it was delightful. She was lying on her stomach, her arms and her bosom leaning on a pillow, and holding her head sideways as if she were partly on the back. The clever and tasteful artist had painted her and calves with so much skill and truth that the eye could not but wish to see more; I was delighted with that portrait; it was a speaking likeness, and I wrote under it, “O-Morphi,” not a word, but a Greek one after all, and meaning beautiful."--,
Marie-Louise O'Murphy de Boisfaily (, – , ) was a child-, one of the several of King .
She was the fifth daughter of an who had taken up in , France. After his death, her mother brought the family to .
In , at fourteen years of age, she posed nude for a memorable and provocative portrait by artist . Her beauty caught the eye of . He took her as one of his mistresses, and she quickly became a favourite, giving birth to the king's daughter, and possibly a second one.
After serving as a mistress to the king for just over two years, O'Murphy made a mistake that was common for many courtesans, that of trying to replace the official . Around 1754, she unwisely tried to unseat the longtime royal favorite, . This ill-judged move quickly resulted in O'Murphy's downfall at court. After three marriages, she died in at the age of 77.