While I was at college, I was set this essay question: "In his early work, Manet was heavily influenced by the old masters. What do you make of this?" Kind of a strange question. What I made of it was this: In his early work, Manet was heavily influenced by the old masters. What I also made of it was the image below.
The image compares Titian's 'Venus of Urbino' to Manet's 'Olympia'. There is obviously a strong similarity. Both depict naked women in a reclining position, and both women are 'courtesans' which is a nice way of saying prostitute. Titian's Venus has long been held by the art establishment as one of the ultimate examples of figure painting and female beauty. In stark contrast, Manet's 'Olympia' created a scandal when it was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1865. In fact, it ignited a scandal over art and decency that has rarely been paralleled.
If the two paintings are so similar, why did Olympia cause such a scandal? It's always been considered okay to paint nudes if the context was one of mythology, ancient history, or some exotic, far off place, such as in 'The Turkish Bath' by Ingres.
Manet's 'Olympia' depicts a contemporary scene, not an exotic or mythological context. Manet's 'Olympia' depicts a prostitute. Rather than allowing the viewer to assume the role of an unseen voyeur, her gaze engages the viewer as she would a customer. As many of the male visitors to the Paris Salon were likely to have visited prostitutes in a similar setting, 'Olympia' was much too close to the bone. While Titian's Venus has a passive, alluring gaze, Olympia's gaze is confronting, even challenging.
This contrast is further emphasized by the position of the hands in the two pictures. I've always found 'Venus of Urbino' to be rather outrageous in this respect. I mean, what is she doing?! Masturbating is the obvious answer. You can really come to no other conclusion than that she is touching herself; the fingers curl and incline into her genital area. (Just in case you didn't work that out for yourself). It's odd that few, if any art history texts make any reference to this glaring act at all. Perhaps not; it's easier to ignore this detail than to confront it. In any case; how is it possible that Titian's painting was and is regarded as a great academic masterpiece while verging on pornography? It's not so different to a playboy or penthouse image, apart from the fact that is was created by an old master in oils.
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