The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Venus Rising From the Sea: A Deception (After the Bath), Raphaelle Peale, 1822
To begin with ~ it's not a curtain at all but a clever, conceptually layered bit of trompe l'oeil. Look closer... This painting's simplicity is deceptive & things are definitely not what they seem. Come now, don't act too surprised... Peale distinctly stated in the title that there was a little "deception" occurring here. In reality you are looking at a pocket handkerchief (or perhaps a napkin) that has been attached with pins to what appears to be a piece of ribbon, in front of a painting to give the illusion that there is a life size naked lady behind there. In this whimsical piece, instead of time we are playing a game with scale. The straight pin's relative size is the clue.
Also in play here (& frankly what keeps this painting from being merely an aesthetic parlor trick) is a humorous jab at American prudishness in the early nineteenth century. The Hudson River School painter Asher B. Durand had John Vanderlyn's 1812 nude Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos hanging in his home's drawing room. Due to the full frontal aspect of the pose, he kept the painting modestly covered with a drape ~ apparently to protect the sensibilities of the women & children in his household. Peale's painting may have been a playfully ironic comment on this. The irony is twofold here. First, Peale's hidden nude ~ with it's tantalizing glimpse of loose, possibly damp hair cascading over a nude arm & a dainty bare foot ~ has only become more mysterious & erotic because of it's concealment. Less is, without a doubt, more in this case. We all know how dangerous it can be when things are left to the imagination & here Peale has literally given the viewer a blank canvas to fill in the gap between head & foot. (There is also an almost Magritte-like surrealism happening here, but that's a topic for another post.) Second, I am hard-pressed to recall a more lush & sensuous rendering of simple, utilitarian household linen. Even with the innate stiffness of linen & the sharp, geometric fold creases, Peale's deft handling of paint transforms the fabric into something far more voluptuous than an actual nude.
To begin with ~ it's not a curtain at all but a clever, conceptually layered bit of trompe l'oeil. Look closer... This painting's simplicity is deceptive & things are definitely not what they seem. Come now, don't act too surprised... Peale distinctly stated in the title that there was a little "deception" occurring here. In reality you are looking at a pocket handkerchief (or perhaps a napkin) that has been attached with pins to what appears to be a piece of ribbon, in front of a painting to give the illusion that there is a life size naked lady behind there. In this whimsical piece, instead of time we are playing a game with scale. The straight pin's relative size is the clue.
Also in play here (& frankly what keeps this painting from being merely an aesthetic parlor trick) is a humorous jab at American prudishness in the early nineteenth century. The Hudson River School painter Asher B. Durand had John Vanderlyn's 1812 nude Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos hanging in his home's drawing room. Due to the full frontal aspect of the pose, he kept the painting modestly covered with a drape ~ apparently to protect the sensibilities of the women & children in his household. Peale's painting may have been a playfully ironic comment on this. The irony is twofold here. First, Peale's hidden nude ~ with it's tantalizing glimpse of loose, possibly damp hair cascading over a nude arm & a dainty bare foot ~ has only become more mysterious & erotic because of it's concealment. Less is, without a doubt, more in this case. We all know how dangerous it can be when things are left to the imagination & here Peale has literally given the viewer a blank canvas to fill in the gap between head & foot. (There is also an almost Magritte-like surrealism happening here, but that's a topic for another post.) Second, I am hard-pressed to recall a more lush & sensuous rendering of simple, utilitarian household linen. Even with the innate stiffness of linen & the sharp, geometric fold creases, Peale's deft handling of paint transforms the fabric into something far more voluptuous than an actual nude.
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