"clickbait" & "Classical" subject matter?

Birth of Venus, Alexandre Cabanel, 1863 

The subject matter of these two paintings by the French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme is a Roman slave market. The style of art Gérôme employs is known as academicism, a style influenced by the standards of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts, which was, in turn, influenced by Neoclassicism and Romanticism, and an art style that followed, attempting to synthesize both of these styles. 

This type of art is best reflected by the paintings of William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Thomas Couture, and Hans Makart. In this context it is often called "academism", "academicism" and "eclecticism", and sometimes linked with "historicism" and "syncretism". 

It is also sometimes referred to, humorously and pejoratively as "art pompier", or "Fireman Art". As a derisive late-nineteenth-century French term for large "official" academic art paintings of the time, especially historical or allegorical ones, it has some relevance to the style and subject matter involved.

Félicien Rops. Rops was greatly respected by his peers and actively pursued and celebrated as an illustrator by the publishers, authors, and poets of his time and provided frontispieces and illustrations for Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, Charles Baudelaire, Charles De Coster, Théophile Gautier, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Stéphane Mallarmé, Joséphin Péladan, Paul Verlaine, and many others.

As is evident in Félicien Rops humorous image above, the "Fireman Art" term derives from the helmets, worn at the time by French firemen, which are similar to the Attic helmet often worn in such works by allegorical personifications, classical warriors, or Napoleonic cavalry, and the oft repeated theme of mostly semi-nude women being carried away by men, as for example in images of Vikings abducting young women.

"Art Pompier" also suggests half-puns in French with pompéien ("from Pompeii"), and pompeux ("pompous").

The "art" of Pompeii

Pompier art was seen by those who used the term as the epitome of the values of the bourgeoisie, and as insincere and overblown.

The Romans in their Decadence (French - Les Romains de la décadence) is a painting by the French artist Thomas Couture, first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1847, a year before the 1848 Revolution which toppled the July Monarchy. Reminiscent of the style of Raphael, it is typical of the French 'academie' style between 1850 and 1900.

Q. Was this painting, in some way a criticism of a decadent bourgeoisie, or a ruling class?

A. If it was, it was simultaneously a spectacular entertainment for a "male gaze"!

Olympia and a female gaze?

In 1863, this painting by Edouard Manet, titled Olympia, stirred an uproar when it was first exhibited at the 1865 Paris Salon. Respectable and moralistic conservatives condemned the work as "immoral" and "vulgar." 

Journalist Antonin Proust later recalled, "If the canvas of the Olympia was not destroyed, it is only because of the precautions that were taken by the administration." 

The critics and the public condemned the work alike. Even Émile Zola was reduced to disingenuously commenting on the work's formal qualities rather than acknowledging the subject matter:

"You wanted a nude, and you chose Olympia, the first that came along". 

He paid tribute to Manet's honesty, however:

"When our artists give us Venuses, they correct nature, they lie. Édouard Manet asked himself why lie, why not tell the truth; he introduced us to Olympia, this fille of our time, whom you meet on the sidewalks."

What shocked contemporary audiences was not Olympia's nudity, nor the presence of her fully clothed maid, but her confrontational gaze and a number of details identifying her as a demi-mondaine or prostitute. These include the orchid in her hair, her bracelet, pearl earrings and the oriental shawl on which she lies, symbols of wealth and sensuality. The black ribbon around her neck, in stark contrast with her pale flesh, and her cast-off slipper underline the voluptuous atmosphere. "Olympia" was a name associated with prostitutes in 1860s Paris.

The painting is modelled after Titian's Venus of Urbino (c. 1534). In this depiction, Titian has domesticated Venus by moving her to an indoor setting, engaging her with the viewer, and making her sensuality explicit. Devoid as it is of any classical or allegorical trappings – Venus displays none of the attributes of the goddess she is supposed to represent – the painting is sensual and unapologetically erotic. 

Whereas the left hand of Titian's Venus is curled and appears to entice, Olympia's left hand appears to block, which has been interpreted as symbolic of her sexual independence from men and her role as a prostitute, granting or restricting access to her body in return for payment. Manet replaced the little dog (symbol of fidelity) in Titian's painting with a black cat, which traditionally symbolized prostitution. Olympia disdainfully ignores the flowers presented to her by her servant, probably a gift from a client. Some have suggested that she is looking in the direction of the door, as her client barges in unannounced.

The painting deviates from the academic canon in its style, characterized by broad, quick brushstrokes, studio lighting that eliminates mid-tones, large color surfaces and shallow depth. Unlike the smooth idealized nude of Alexandre Cabanel's La naissance de Vénus, also painted in 1863, Olympia is a real woman whose nakedness is emphasized by the harsh lighting. 

The canvas alone is 51.4 x 74.8 inches, which is rather large for this genre-style painting. Most paintings that were this size depicted historical or mythological events, so the size of the work, among other factors, caused surprise. Finally, Olympia is fairly thin by the artistic standards of the time and her relatively undeveloped body is more girlish than womanly. Charles Baudelaire thought thinness was more indecent than fatness.

The model for Olympia, Victorine Meurent, would have been recognized by viewers of the painting because she was well known in Paris circles. She started modeling when she was sixteen years old and she also was an accomplished painter in her own right. Some of her paintings were exhibited in the Paris Salon. The familiarity with the identity of the model was a major reason this painting was considered shocking to viewers. A well known woman currently living in modern day Paris could not simultaneously represent a historical or mythological woman.

The Wikipedia article on Titian's Venus of Urbino says firstly; that the work domesticates the goddess Venus; and that secondly; it was unapologetically erotic in its visual purpose.

Images are obviously products of particular times and situations, but the contemporary use of images from other times and places, be they distant or near in terms of space and time, requires us to consider the consequences of their use. To quote Marshall McLuhan:

The consequences of the images are the images of the consequences!

So, the question is:

Q. What do the two meanings of the "domestic" and the "erotic" mean when they are packed up together into one image? 

Erotic art, according to the Wikipedia article, covers any artistic work that is intended to evoke erotic arousal or that depicts scenes of sexual activity.

So, along with "naughty postcards", erotic art is a type of erotica and includes drawings, engravings, films, paintings, photographs, and sculptures, and writing. The domestic setting is crucial to the nineteenth century examples that are being explored and questioned in this commentary.