1835, Thomas Sully, Musidora -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
From the museum label: Painted in Sully's most succulent, painterly manner, Musidora is his only known nude. Inspired by James Thomson's poem "Summer" from his opus The Seasons (1727), it is at once chaste and erotic, a combination that had great appeal for contemporary Victorian audiences. Sully depicts the modest Musidora at the moment her suitor, Damon, discovers her bathing in the forest. His gentlemanly conduct so impresses her that she pledges her love for him at once. The subject was painted by many artists of the day, but Sully's interpretation, in which the unwitting viewer plays the role of Damon, is compellingly unique.
1835, Thomas Sully, Musidora -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
From the museum label: Painted in Sully's most succulent, painterly manner, Musidora is his only known nude. Inspired by James Thomson's poem "Summer" from his opus The Seasons (1727), it is at once chaste and erotic, a combination that had great appeal for contemporary Victorian audiences. Sully depicts the modest Musidora at the moment her suitor, Damon, discovers her bathing in the forest. His gentlemanly conduct so impresses her that she pledges her love for him at once. The subject was painted by many artists of the day, but Sully's interpretation, in which the unwitting viewer plays the role of Damon, is compellingly unique.