tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925559605333281866.post3508678178478125138..comments2024-03-22T17:01:37.019-06:00Comments on Anna Rose Bain's Art Blog: On Medieval Nudity and the Art of the SensualAnna Rose Bainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16322593283981299235noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925559605333281866.post-28770484024817658732011-02-03T20:17:11.712-07:002011-02-03T20:17:11.712-07:00Anna, thanks so much for going out of your way to ...Anna, thanks so much for going out of your way to helpfully answer my questions! I know and love Gilson. I have tried several times to work through his treatise, the Unity of Philosophical Experience, which proved daunting, and I may not for some time be able to get to the book you mention, but I won't forget it.<br /><br />I'd be interested to know the precise terminology Gilson uses, which you paraphrased as 'beauty can be caused by nature, truth' etc. 'Caused' is a potent philosophical word, and I wonder whether the translation of Gilson used the same word.<br /><br />Your second comment didn't quite strike at my question, which admittedly was rather obscure, but it gave me the vocabulary I need to rephrase the question adequately.<br /><br />It seems to me that the painter, when she decides in what light to paint a nude, chooses between virtues or vices susceptible of expression in the body, such as sensuality, glory, innocence, strength, and corruption.<br /><br />The intellectual pleasure felt upon the apprehension of sensual beauty in the nude is different from the pleasure associated with glory in the nude, or innocence, or strength, and each virtue has something unique to teach us. At the same time, each virtue, in order to function well, must be subordinated to the higher principle, beauty itself.<br /><br />When I ask, "Did Titian indulge so much in the human side of Venus that he missed the divine?", I am asking whether Titian developed to such a degree the sensual aspect of the nude, that in his paintings, sensuality has usurped the throne of beauty, and no longer points to anything but itself.<br /><br />It's helpful to me to compare Titian's Venus of Urbino with Giorgione's Sleeping Venus. Though Titian has created the more sensual image, I think Giorgione has created the symbol which better reveals beauty.Matthew Taylornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1925559605333281866.post-17944746754871455292011-02-02T17:51:08.014-07:002011-02-02T17:51:08.014-07:00very interesting question followed by a thoughtful...very interesting question followed by a thoughtful answer. I have not read the book you mentioned, but put it on hold at the library.Richard J. Luschek IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17391295820585129843noreply@blogger.com