Studies of male loins 

Here, we see Peter Paul Rubens's "Studies of Male Loins." Rubens was a leading figure in the Baroque movement, a period that embraced drama and grandeur in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. Rubens’s vision of the male body is one of robust physicality. But it is worth considering that this ideal was exclusive. It was only available to a privileged class with access to nourishment and leisure. Rubens was also a diplomat, and his art often served to reinforce the power and authority of the ruling elite. While his art celebrates the human form, it does so through a lens that was very much shaped by the social and political hierarchies of his time. These studies, then, offer a glimpse into the complex ways in which art can reflect both the beauty and the biases of its era. They invite us to consider who is included and excluded from the visual narratives.