Franz von Stuck, German/Carlo Cignani, Italian
Nymphs Committing Blatant Pass Interference, ca. 1904/1680
Oil on panel/Oil on canvas
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Info about the first artist is pointed to by my comment and reply at another blog entry.
Info, or perhaps links that point to info, about the second artist can be found here, here (archived, if necessary), here, here (can be read in full for free on Fridays), here, and here, perhaps in addition to what in his Wikipedia page.
/// Franz von Stuck painted them, Nymph and Faun
playing tag on a bilious green lawn.
His advances are crude;
she evades them (though nude).
She’ll decide if they’re getting it on.
/// The Cignani is called Joseph and
Potiphar’s Wife. Seduction is planned.
In this cramped octagon
he will not be her pawn.
He recoils, pushing back with each hand.
/// Mrs. Potiphar’s name, by tradition,
is Zuleikha. She lacked inhibition.
Joseph wouldn’t play ball,
that’s why he took the fall.
Jailed for turning down her proposition.
/// Joseph’s fingers splay, thin air they clutch.
He’s afraid that bare flesh he may touch.
Yet that nymph in the race
shoves her hand in the face
of the faun who said, “Lunch? Let’s go dutch.”
/// And so, what does this odd pairing prove?
In each duo just one wants to “groove.”
When the lust’s unrequited,
but one’s overexcited,
either gender can make the first move.
/// It seems always the man gets the blame
when libidos heat up and inflame.
Men are told they are toxic
and their brains turn anoxic,
yet, at times the aggressor’s the dame!
/// I’ll admit this scenario’s rare,
and most men offered sex gladly share.
But it’s true, even so,
we’ve the right to say “No!”
(and the fair sex is sometimes unfair).
/// Who among us sincerely believes
that some nudes in real life wore fig leaves?
Just how were they attached?
Did they itch? Were they scratched?
It’s a painterly trick that deceives.
/// In these paintings of nudes, often there
is a large cloak they’ll randomly wear.
Draped around arm or thigh,
it conceals from the eye
what the censors would not let them bare.
/// And that large bolt of fabric will flow
in the wind to selectively show
only body parts we
have been sanctioned to see,
draped as though the cloth knows where to go.