Titian, Ingres, Courbet (my personal favourite). These were artists with a fondness for the, shall we say, the titty. Titian’s famous reclining nude, The Venus of Urbino (1538) shows supple, subtle breasts. Its later appropriation by Edouarde Manet in his uber-famous L’Olympia (1863), showcased the upturned nipples of a famous Parisian prostitute. 

And these artists do not stand alone. It seems that since art’s inception, when the female body is represented, the jugs are visible. 

So where better to get a glimpse of the many nipples of the art world than at New York’s Metropolitan Museum? Nipples At The Met is a blog documenting the multifaceted selection of nipples by artist James C. Ewart. From soft and painterly to hard and marbled, the Met’s got ’em all. I guess the idealized nipples of art are more different than we though. 

____

Jessica Carroll is the Toronto Standard’s “Best Thing on the Internet Today” columnist. Follow her on Twitter at @jssckr.

For more, follow us on Twitter at @torontostandard, and subscribe to our newsletter.