Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassical style, perhaps the most important painter of his era. Above, a portrait of him in 1817 by his pupil Francois-Joseph Navez. By the way, for those not familiar with French, his last name is not pronounced like the English name David. It's pronounced dah-VEED.
He was not especially known for his nudes, though they do occur in his paintings. However, drawing the nude male form was part of his art education at the Royal Academy in Paris, located in what is now the Louvre. Above, Academy Study of the Male Nude, 1764.
In 1774 he won the Prix de Rome, which funded a multi-year stay in Rome to study art and classical subjects there. Reclining Male Nude was drawn there c. 1775-77.
Another drawing from Rome, Seated Male Nude in Three-Quarter View, c. 1774-75.
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This drawing, Man Stepping to the Right, c. 1770s, has been attributed to David and would also be from his Rome period.
After his studies, David proceeded to paint a large number of paintings on classical (ancient Greek and Roman) subjects, such as the Death of Socrates, not shown here. The painting above, Patroclus, 1780, shows Patroclus, a companion of Achilles in the Trojan War in Homer's Iliad. David's paintings sometimes showed rear male nudity.
But his paintings typically did not show frontal male nudity, as we see in Hector's Body, 1778, above. Hector was a Trojan prince killed by Achilles in Homer's Iliad. Some suspiciously placed drapery blocks our view.
Another example of hiding the frontal view is Cupid and Psyche, 1817.
However, David made a precursor sketch to Cupid and Psyche in 1813 in which we see everything, but Cupid's endowment is not very impressive.
We end with another classical painting, The Intervention of the Sabine Women, 1799. This illustrates an episode in Roman myth where Hersilia intervenes between her husband, Romulus, at right, and her father Titus Tatius at left. Romulus was the legendary founder of the city of Rome. We see Romulus' butt and a peekaboo frontal on Titus. Click on the painting for a larger view.
For New Year's Day, we present a 2026 calendar of paintings by Kenney Mencher. This calendar is for sale in the EU and other countries, but not for sale in the U.S.
Click on each image to see a larger version.
The January painting is titled "9 AM." February is untitled.
March is "Big Hands". April is "Counterweighted Nude." May is "Fallacious Arguments."
June is "Frisky Business." July is "In the Stall Next to Mine." August is "Out and Stout."
September is "Dress Shirt." October is "Satyr." November is "Summer's Last Chance." December is "Twilight."
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My blog is now five years old. Happy New Year!
It's New Year's Eve.
Time to break out the champagne ...
Think about the year past ...
and the year to come ...
hopefully with a friend.
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To all of you, Happy New Year!
Plage des Aresquiers is a beach on the Mediterranean coast of France near the town of Frontignan. The beach stretches for miles. The section in the foreground above is not a nude beach, but farther down the coast, away from the buildings, is a stretch of nude beach.
Part of the beach is wide and sandy.
In other parts, the sandy strip is narrow, backed by stones.
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This guy has built himself a primitive little cabin on one of the story sections.
Most of the beach has no trees for shade.
But apparently at some points there are some trees and shrubs backing the beach.
And of course, the entire beach faces the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. The water is said to be shallow along this beach, good for wading.
Not a bad place to spend an afternoon.
Ares was the Greek god of war, corresponding to the Roman god Mars. Above, a very early Etruscan statue of Mars from the 5th century BC. Mars is wearing a helmet with a flamboyant crest plus some kind of cuirass to protect his chest; however he apparently had no need to wear pants.
This statue of Ares from the 1st century BC was completely naked aside from some kind of helmet perched on his head to indicate that he's a warrior. This became the standard representation of the god.
The Borghese Ares, now in the Louvre, circa 1st century AD.
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Rear view of the Borghese Ares. Again, he's naked except for a helmet.
This statue of Ares at Hadrian's Villa dates from the 2nd century. He wears another helmet with a flamboyant crest. Hadrian was the Roman Emperor from 117 to 138 AD, perhaps best remembered now for building Hadrian's Wall, which separated Roman Britain from the barbarians in Scotland.
Ares or Mars remained a popular subject for sculptors centuries later, perhaps because of the tradition of representing him naked. This is the statue of Ares at the Doge's Palace in Venice, made in the 1550s. The statue is on one side of an outdoor stairway, and from the stairway, Ares' privates are concealed by a sculpted cloth. But from the other side, viewed above, the sculptor gave us a peekaboo view.
Bartolomeo Ammannati went back to the classic naked with a helmet representation in Mars Gradius, 1559.
This ironically titled statue is Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker by Canova, 1806. Of course, Napoleon was a warmaker, not a peacemaker, conquering most of Europe, as Canova no doubt intended for us to understand by portraying him as the god of war. The statue looks nothing like Napoleon, but it's a nice representation of Mars. Unfortunately, it sports a fig leaf.
We end with Mars Restrained by Cupid by John Gibson, c. 1820. No fig leaf here. Can love restrain war? It would be nice to think so, but I wouldn't count on it.
Today we look at the World Naked Bike ride held in Manchester, England on June 7, 2019. Riders gathered in a park.
Some more riders gathering in the park.
This guy is painted with a message advocating safety for bicycle riders. Safety is one of the two main goals that WNBR promotes. The other is encouraging people to ride bikes instead of driving cars because cars emit pollutants that harm the environment.
This is decidedly not a standard WNBR message. However, since he's naked and painted with rainbow stripes, I couldn't help wondering whether, if someone inserted a certain body part into him, he would find it inside him and say "God!"
In the background is one of my favorite unashamed males, whom we have seen before.
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It's Laurence Barnes from Australia, who goes by the name FKK Lad. The message on his chest says "I ❤️ FKK." Laurence now lives in Berlin, Germany, and FKK is the German abbreviation for Freikörperkultur (free body culture), which refers to a nudist lifestyle.
He has participated in WNBR events in Manchester, England for several years.
Here he is before the ride with a fellow Australian. The message on his back proclaims that he's from Down Under, and they both have Australian flags painted on their bodies and Australian flags on their bikes.
Then the ride began.
Here's FKK Lad riding.
We end with a video clip of FKK Lad and his Australian companion riding their bikes, viewed from behind.
