The people of this time may have been fascinated by the beauty of woman or even mystified as to how they brought life into their eyes. The Woman of Willendorf, (the politically correct name) could be a powerful image of fertility. They say Woman now because the Venus is a goddess. Critics are afraid to make assumptions based on information they are not sure about. Men may have carved this product to show that "their life depended upon affect in nature, but fertility of woman depended preservation of their species" (6 8). One can only imagine how important it was for these early people to reproduce, and these objects they carved clearly show what was important to them.
The nude has made an impact on just about every time period in the history of man. It has shocked and intrigued many people over such simple beauty. Such was the case during medieval times. The naked body stood for temptation and sin. "The female model was regarded, as the earliest references indicate, in a highly subjective manner. Commonly assumed to be the artist's mistress, she was regarded as a physical embodiment of his muse (2 757). The importance of the nude persisted through 17th century baroque art well into the 19th century, retaining its significance because of its connection with subjects of the highest cultural status, whether religious or mythological. As such subjects tended to be favored more by aristocratic patrons. Most works of nudes were not accepted in public places as it was forbidden to have woman as models. It is like that today. Still today, it is hard to find a nude picture, portrait or sculpture in any place other than art books or nude magazines. It was during these times that the pieces had to be of high moral standards to be shown. Even so, the impact and distress that the nude gave lead to many problems. .
Moving on in western painting, the female body has "a genre all its own, that of the female nude" (5 223).
