Research Paper on:
Nude Paintings of Peter Paul Rubens

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
"Rubens has had many detractors through the years, but none so virulent as Americans. Thomas Eakins declared, Rubens is the nastiest most vulgar noisy painter that ever lived....Eakins added that  he would not be sorry if all Rubens paintings were burned" (Osmond, 1994). Despite such American perspectives, however, his nudes have stood as some of the most beautiful and magical  paintings that come to us from the history of painting. In the following paper we examine the nudes of Rubens. Rubens Nudes One author asks, "Whats so special  about Rubens nudes? Theyre flabby and pasty, and just the opposite of what a nude is supposed to represent" (Sloping Shoulders, 2003). However, this author then insists that when we  "Take a look at Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century portraits....Rubens nudes begin to make sense. Theyre the same women with the broad and sloping shoulders and wide bones whose beauty seems  so closely linked to their poise and dignity" (Sloping Shoulders, 2003). They are the very same women that are seen in "all of those famous Eighteenth Century beloveds" (Sloping Shoulders,  2003). Another author indicates that "Rubens makes his male and female figures virtual embodiments of cosmic principles of masculinity and femininity His women are white, soft, curved; their flesh,  so intricately painted with many hues, becomes iridescent, as if vibrating at so high a frequency it is crossing the bounds into spirit" (Osmond, 1994). In this we see "Symbols  of happy fecundity comfort, peace, and love...women are combinations of Venus, Juno, and a very motherly Mary. They radiate from the canvas as if they are the source of light  unto the world" (Osmond, 1994). In addition we note that Rubens mother perhaps played a very important part in his representation of women. Osmond (1994) indicates that, "given the