For the kings of 16- and 17-century Spain, one of the job's best perks was access to a sala privada – a room for their private collections of artwork, which they often eagerly filled with nude portraits that the Catholic church publicly considered a sin. The royals' prurient-minded tastes are partly why disrobed compositions proliferated among the Old Master painters, from disturbing scenes like Rubens's "Rape of Europa" to more tender moments like Tintoretto's "Lady Revealing Her Breast." Many ended up at the Prado, Spain's national art museum, which is now sharing its fleshy bounty with Williamstown, Massachusetts, where "Splendor, Myth, and Vision: Nudes from the Prado" is on full-frontal display at the Clark Art Institute until October. Take a peek, here.
