Explain the symbolism in Titian’s Reclining Nude (Venus of Urbino), and suggest what—if anything—separates art of this kind from pornography

Question

Please provide the best answer for the statement.

Answer 1

1. Unlike Florentine art, sensuality, even outright sexuality, was a primary subject of Venetian art. In Titian’s Venus of Urbino, painted for Duke Guidobaldo della Rovere of Urbino in 1538, “Venus”—more a real woman than an ethereal goddess, and referred to by Guidobaldo as merely a “nude woman”—is frankly available. She stares out at the viewer, Guidobaldo himself, with matter-of-factness, suggesting she is totally comfortable with her nudity. Her hand both covers and draws attention to her genitals. Her dog, a traditional symbol of both fidelity and lust, sleeps lazily on the white sheets at her feet. She may be, ambiguously, either a courtesan or a bride. In either case she is, primarily, an object of desire.
2. Students’ arguments about high art depicting sexuality and pornography will vary.