Sarah Goodridge’s Beauty Revealed (1828) – a statesman’s naked keepsake
In 1828, American artist Sarah Goodridge (February 5, 1788 – December 28, 1853) gave a miniature portrait of her naked breast to US Statesman and would-be President (he tried and failed three times) Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852).
As Flashbak writes, the miniature is painted in watercolours on a sliver of ivory. It’s wrapped in a blood-red leather case and closed with two clasps.
The author John Updike muses on the picture’s meaning in his 1993 essay The Revealed and the Concealed, verbalising the breasts’ message: “We are yours for the taking, in all our ivory loveliness, with our tenderly stippled nipples.”
An early sext, then?
Via: Flashbak. Sarah Goodridge’s Beauty Revealed is at The Met.
Posted: 17th, January 2021 | In: Politicians, Strange But True Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
