Ways Of Seeing Venus And Cupid

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People use art to display the beauty found in the world and, because of this, women have been subject to objection through paintings and photography all throughout history. Whether it is a commissioned oil painting from the 17th century or an advertisement from the 20th century, there will always be some type of image that objectifies women. In the book Ways of Seeing John Berger states that a woman “comes to consider the surveyor and surveyed within her as the two constituent yet always distinct elements of her identity as a woman,” (Ways of Seeing 46). Berger is saying that women know they are seen as an object purely because they are women. Women in paintings and photography are objectified for the pleasure of the viewer, they are illustrated …show more content…

In 1668, King Charles II had a painter, Peter Lely, create a piece of Venus and Cupid, but by taking a closer look the viewer can see that it’s actually a portrait of Charles II’s mistress Nell Gwynn. The girl in the portrait looks benignly at the viewers and showed “her submission to the owner’s feeling and demand.” (Ways of Seeing 52). The king hung the painting behind another landscape so he could unveil it and make “his guest envied him.” (Ways of Seeing 52). The painting makes Nell into a prize with no other purpose but to feed the King’s ego. Even the mythology theme says more about the King than Nell given that he had a whole series of mythology erotica painting made after Lely’s Venus portrait of Nell. Despite Nell being the subject of the painting, there’s no indication of her being an actress or a wit, she’s nothing but a …show more content…

In Enrique Simonet’s reproduction, the three goddesses stand slightly off center and are taking turns showing their naked bodies to a man watching them in the foreground. This scene has been recreated hundreds of times, specifically because it fulfills the fantasy of the viewer, the arousing idea of three beautiful and naked women trying to win the affection of the viewer. Thus, forcing the women to become submissive to the man in order to win his affections. The sexual passion from that painting is not found in the women painted, but in viewer: “Women are there to feed an appetite, not to have any of their own.” (Ways of Seeing 55). It allows the viewer to feel as if no other desires matter but his own. This is why the goddesses in the painting look so meek and dutiful when in legend, they were also ruthlessly trying to bribe Paris into giving them the golden apple. The painting is a symbol of the viewer’s fantasy and has little to no correlation with the legend or the sexual appetite of any of the women in the image. Though as time passes, even more evidence seems to point to the fact that most images are made to appeal the viewer’s

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