ABSTRACT
The great resurgence of interest in Greek art and thought that was a fundamental part of the Italian Renaissance took the perfect male nude as the ideal physical form, able to convey the finest qualities of strength, courage, vitality, nobility, energy and intelligence. While the female nude was descriptive of a particular form of sensuality, the male nude evoked the idea of the perfect society in which man could relate freely and possibly sexually. The perfect male form was considered the mirror of the soul. Conventionally, the male nude in art was thought to be as close to sexual neutrality as the human body could achieve, possessing noble proportions, ideal muscle formations, fine skin quality, well-modelled facial features and strong, alert posture.
