The meanings of nudity in medieval art an introduction1 sherry cm lindquist johann joachim winckelmann and other early founders of the modern discipline of art history hailed the idealized nude developed in ancient greece adopted by the romans and subject to imitation and revival ever since as a superior classical distinctively western approach to representing the human body2 . Addressing a neglected key issue in the history of art this volume engages the variety and complexity of medieval representations of the unclothed human body the book offers a range of approaches to explore the meanings of both male and female nudity in painting manuscripts and sculpture. The meanings of nudity in medieval art breaks ground by offering a variety of approaches to explore the meanings of both male and female nudity in european painting manuscripts and sculpture ranging from the late antique era to the fifteenth century table of contents contents the meanings of nudity in medieval art an introduction sherry cm lindquist the survival and reception of the . There was no primary meaning of nudity in medieval art only meanings as the essays in this volume demonstrateit may be that art historians emphasis on medieval hostility to representations of the flesh is shaped by the countless headless and limbless antique nudes in our museums which may or may not have been damaged by zealous early christian smashers of pagan idols like pope gregory