Description

The idea for this painting came to me while I was traveling across Italy looking at their art and comparing it to the contemporary art world. As harsh as it sounds, my opinion is that the contemporary art world has lost its ideal of male beauty, often giving in to shock and sensation. When I visit art shows and museums, the art of the male figure is hard to come by. Even if the male figure is there, these figures don’t look beautiful or powerful to me.

If we look back at the history of art, the ideal of male beauty got perfected and admired in the Greco-Roman culture and the Italian Renaissance. After that artists, patrons and cultures switched the ideal of beauty from male to female. So I got fascinated with this topic of actually painting the male figure in classical tradition distilling it to the very essence of human existence. I hope you like what transpires in my painting.

The photo reference for the marble sculpture comes from my visit to the Palatine museum in Rome. It’s a fragmentary Parian statue of Dionysius dating back to the mid-2nd century AD. The reason why I titled this painting of a male nude as “the Belvedere torso” is because I wanted to reference Greco-Roman civilization in my artwork and their ideal of male beauty. “Belvedere” means ‘beautiful view” in Italian. As we traveled across Italy I saw that word in signs popping up left and right, and it etched itself into my mind as an expression of the most beautiful view.

Moreover, I got fascinated with this particular fragmented sculpture because it looks very different from other marble sculptures. The surface is bluish, not white and the orange hair is long and wavy falling over the shoulders freely. It feels like this light blue marble covers the base of the base sculpture underneath it.

video: https://youtu.be/_uDcdrmZJDU

Painting specifications:

• Questions:nika@veronicasart.com 
• 36×24 inches
• Oil painting on canvas
• Lightfast oil paints with some golden acrylic paint
• Varnished
• a certificate of authenticity guarantees the provenance
• This original oil painting ships from my studio in Naples, Florida via FedEx ground or other requested service.

Delivery time & shipping:

The artwork ships within a week after receiving payment in full. If it requires framing, please allow for additional 4-week turnaround. Payment plans are available. If you’re not comfortable checking out here, I can send you a bill via PayPal to complete the transaction.

International shipping is available to some countries. To receive a quote. e-mail.

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