In The difference between art and obesity, Di asks why “in the era of Rubens (1577-1640), fat women were revered. Today, they are despised for being obese. What caused this change in cultural attitude?” Short answer, fat is fun to paint. Long answer to follow.
Artists paint zaftig women because the effects of gravity on muscle, sinew, flesh, breasts, bellies, buttocks, and thighs are fun to render.
Also, as an artist, one’s mastery of the flesh, the folds, the dimples, and the weight from the unrelenting pull of the earth can make you as an artist even more readily than being able to render fabrics and brocade.
As simple as that.
That is also why painters like capturing the old, the muscular, or the immaciated.
These are interesting things to paint. Downright fun, actually.
Gravity has its way with corpulence.
Photography is different, because skinny girls are more fun to shoot.
As simple as that.
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Or maybe it has to do with the fact that in 1590, it was attractive to have extra weight because it showed that you could afford to eat something other than gruel and bread. Supply dictates demand…
I’m no artist, but I can imagine that painting gaunt women could be quite a challenging, yet satisfying experience…the way her eyes might protrude from her sockets, her ribs jut out from her sides, the way the light casts a shadow onto the crevices of her skin.