Beautiful, firm buttocks draw attention to their wearer (or possessor), and are a source of inspiration for poets, sculptors and artists. Renaissance artists, as well as sculptors of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome paid particular attention to the "rear" of men and women.
We present to you the top 10 most beautiful buttocks in art according to The Guardian.
10. Raphael, "The Three Graces"
Where is: Condé Museum at Chantilly Castle, France
The Italian painter Rafael Santi once said that in order to paint true beauty, he needs to see many different women. And the arrangement of interconnected naked bodies in the painting "The Three Graces" comprehensively demonstrates the artist's passion for the female body.
The names of the girls are Innocence, Beauty and Love, and the golden apples, which each of them holds in her hand, symbolize perfection.
9. Damiano Mazza, "The Rape of Ganymede"
Where is: National Gallery, London
The topic of homosexuality was very popular both in satirical literature and in Renaissance painting. And a vivid example of this is the painting "The Rape of Ganymede".
According to legend, the god Zeus, who was very loving, kidnapped the beautiful young man Ganymede, taking the form of an eagle. He took him to Mount Olympus, where Ganymede became the cupbearer of the gods.
Just to make it clear that this is about sex and violence, Mazza focuses on Ganymede's bare buttocks.
8. Diego Velazquez, "Venus with a Mirror"
Where is: National Gallery, London
The beautiful naked body of Venus is not all that the artist has depicted. In the mirror, you can see the face of the goddess, sad and restless. As if Venus realizes that she is not a celestial woman, but a model who is forced to always show her buttocks to museum visitors, and wants to be somewhere else.
It is curious that "Venus with a Mirror" is the only image of a naked female body that has survived to this day, belonging to the brush of Velazquez.
7. Hieronymus Bosch, "The Temptation of St. Anthony"
Where is: National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon
On the left wing of this stunning triptych with demons and perverts besieging the Christian hermit Anthony, there are two prominent asses at once. The first one can be found on the upper part of the canvas, where a man with bare buttocks is visible on a flying ship.
And in the central part of the picture there is a strange structure in the form of a human figure, standing on all fours. A procession of grotesque characters approaches her, which is a mockery of the religious procession. The entrance to the cave, over which rises a gigantic backside, according to some art critics is the haven of St. Anthony, and according to others - a brothel.
6. Unknown author, "The Chariot"
Where is: Villa Whitaker Museum, Sicily
This adorable chariot driver statue is not a nude sculpture, but is dressed in such a form-fitting outfit that it draws the attention of the audience to every feature of the youth's body.
It took a brilliant sculptor to give these clothes such sophistication in a stone statue. And, of course, "Charioteer" is one of the best demonstrations of the ancient Greek passion for male bodies in general and buttocks in particular.
5. Donatello, "David"
Where is: Bargello Museum, Florence
When Italian sculptor Donatello created the first freestanding nude statue since antiquity, he tried his best to make it provocative.
The artist wanted to challenge the Church and her contempt for human beauty. However, clothes - in this case, sandals with greaves and a hat - he still used to emphasize David's physique.
The real shock comes when you walk around David from all sides and see the gorgeous, smooth buttocks of the statue. All art critics note a certain femininity and fragility of the young man's appearance. Perhaps this is intended to emphasize the fact that such a weak person was not able to cope with the giant Goliath without divine intervention.
4. Michelangelo Buonarroti, "David"
Where is: Academy of Fine Arts, Florence
Both contemporaries and descendants of Michelangelo had no doubt that his interest in the male nude body was erotic. During his lifetime, the master did not deny interest in representatives of the same sex, but insisted that his adoration of male beauty was spiritual.
And in David, this enthusiastic monument to youth and courage, he showed the ideal hero. Unlike Donatello's David, Michelangelo's creation is shown not at the moment of triumph, but in a moment of reflection, before the upcoming battle.
3. Titian, "Venus and Adonis"
Where is: National Prado Museum, Madrid
The painting, which opens the top 3 list of the most beautiful buttocks in works of art, is one of the paintings written for Philip II of Spain in the 16th century. At that time, they were considered too frank, and they were even curtained in the presence of ladies.
Although Venus hugs her lover and he pulls away, her bottom does not budge. Thus, her despair is expressed, and her determination to keep her man, who, as the goddess knows, is threatened with death on the hunt. Adonis himself is adamant, and his gaze, fixed on the golden-haired beauty, is cold and calm.
Having created the canonical version of Venus and Adonis, Titian returned to this story several times. However, only the first picture, according to experts of The Guardian, deserves to be included in the number of masterpieces of art, depicting the most beautiful pops.
2. Francois Boucher, "Louise O'Murphy"
Where is: picture gallery "Old Pinakothek", Munich
In 18th century France, the philosophers of the Enlightenment put forward new ideas about reason and freedom and discussed them in salons (but not beauty, a salon in this case means a circle of select people who gather in a private home). The artistic style of this optimistic period was sensual and playful.
The portrayal of Louise O'Murphy, a young woman of Irish descent, may be overly daring and not philosophical at all, but it is an eloquent libertarian manifesto.
By the way, Louise O'Murphy, who turned out to be not only a beauty, but also a clever girl, was the mistress of Louis XV for a long time, and outlived her lover, ending her life at the venerable age of 77 years.
1. Leonardo da Vinci, "Standing Nude Man"
Where is: Royal Collection, London
This figure is a symbol of male beauty according to Leonardo: powerful, stocky and showing the best butt ever painted. It is so cleverly shaded that when you stand in front of the original drawing, it appears three-dimensional.
We have already written about the most famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, among which there is a drawing "Vitruvian Man", with a four-armed and four-legged figure, demonstrating ideal human proportions. But the drawing of a standing naked man is even stranger, because the center of gravity of this faceless man is his rounded seat.