by Jon Lackman | 12 January 2009 | Museums
In an article on the Rijksmuseum’s recent dalliance with Damien Hirst, art historian Gary Schwartz writes:
If Hirst exploits violence and Koons sex, Lucas Cranach went after them both in combination. Cranach has gotten into the best collections and museums in the world with paintings of the suicide of the rape victim Lucretia. He wasn’t the only one to paint that subject, of course, but Cranach went for the most sensual effect he could achieve. As it seems to me, Cranach was expecting male viewers to be turned on not only by the vulnerable beauty of his half-naked Lucretias, but also by the anticipated plunge of the dagger into their bodies. You do not have to be a feminist to be revolted by Cranach’s idea of Lucretia as a coquette to the death. The question is: where do you draw the line? Is there a point beyond which love of art brings you to betray yourself?
