“The Temptation of Eve” from the cathedral at Autun dates to about 1130. It was the first large-scale nude sculpture since Antiquity, and has become a hallmark of the “Renaissance of the Twelfth Century.” Although not as naturalistic as Ancient Roman sculptures could get, the Eve portrait gets kudos for representing the nude female body in a positive light.
Time for a slice of poetry history! Reader, may I introduce you to one Arnaut Daniel, a late 12th-century troubadour from Provençe in southern France,…