"Studies Of Sedentary Flesh, Painted By Men Who'd Never Been There. These Pictures Were Supposed To Be

"Studies of sedentary flesh, painted by men who'd never been there. These pictures were supposed to be erotic, and I thought they were, at the time; but I see now what they were really about. They were paintings about suspended animation; about waiting, about objects not in use. They were paintings about boredom. But maybe boredom is erotic, when women do it, for men."

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale

Frank Dicksee, Leila (1892) / John William Godward, The Favourite (1901) / Thomas Couture, The Romans in their Decadence (1847) / Frederic Leighton, Flaming June (1895)