Strata: Nudity in Renaissance Art

Why is the infant Jesus portrayed so prominently naked and often with the focus on his genitals? As illustrated in Piero della Francesca’s Madonna and Child—pictured here and recently featured in the exhibit Piero della Francesca: Personal Encounters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which ran from January 14 to March 30, 2014—Mary holds the naked baby outward, so that his genitals are on display for all to see.

In Renaissance art, there are hundreds of devotional pieces from the 15th to mid-16th century that highlight the touching, protecting or presenting of Jesus’ genitals when he is portrayed as an infant—or dead. According to Leo Steinberg in The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion, the painters of this period wanted to emphasize his humanity.¹

Steinberg maintains that Renaissance artists were very intentional in the naturalistic motifs they chose to include in their works. Jesus is portrayed differently than other children, and the depiction of his privy parts was also meant to set him apart. When Mary and St. Anne—Jesus’ mother and grandmother—are shown touching his genitals, it is meant to prove his human lineage.

Whereas artists in earlier periods used imagery that emphasized Jesus’ deity—in response to Jewish, pagan, Arian and Islamic skepticism—Renaissance artists were quick to remind their audience that Christ was also fully human. Thus, the theme of proving the incarnation is pronounced in Renaissance art.