persian nude?

bargeboo: the first time i came across the photo above, i was completely smitten. as a student of both western and persian art history i have seen the classic reclining nude many times, namely in "velázquez's rokeby venus", "titan's venus of urbino" and in my opinion the best one yet, "manet's olympia".

- similarities? the reclining pose, the foot (the only visible body part!), the female form
- differences? most obvious, this one is not nude!

in a culture so electrocuted by the morality of a "pure religious doctrine", of course depicting a nude, specially female would be out of the question. so what is the artist to do? abandon the pose all together or use it inventively?

what i particularly like about this image is how much it is leaving to our imagination ... for all we know, she could be nude under her robe, smiling mischievously to herself, knowing we are watching her, intent on seeing more ... maybe even she is quite exposed at the front! ... come on, try it yourself, see how far you can push this image.

and naturally she is breathtakingly beautiful, in vogue with whatever looks good to "you", unlike her less modest sisters whose faces belong to their own time only.

ahh ... there is nothing like the imaginative minds of the onlooker and that of the clever artist ...
and how false the doctrine that forgets that denying only sharpens the appetite.

if you are reading this post in the archinves and can not see the photo anymore, click on the "venus" in the photo album.