Beauty Revealed is an 1828 self-portrait watercolor by the American artist Sarah Goodridge (pictured). Depicting Goodridge's bared breasts surrounded by white cloth, the portrait miniature is painted on a piece of ivory. It was originally backed with paper and is now in a modern frame. Goodridge presented the breasts as youthful and individualized, employing a frontal view that showed the area from the collarbone to just underneath the breasts. She gave the portrait to statesman Daniel Webster, who was a frequent subject and possible lover, following the death of his wife; she may have intended to provoke him into marrying her. Although Webster married someone else, his family held onto the portrait until the 1980s, when it was auctioned at Christie's and purchased by Gloria and Richard Manney. The painting was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006. It has been read as a work of erotica, as well as an expression of Goodridge's confident sexuality. ( Full article... )
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The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a species of baleen whale in the rorqual family, Balaenopteridae. It is found in oceans worldwide and migrates thousands of kilometres between polar feeding grounds and tropical breeding areas. The adult humpback can weigh up to 40 tonnes and typically measures 14–15 metres (46–49 ft) in length, with longer individuals up to 17 metres (56 ft) recorded. Distinguished by its unusually long pectoral fins and tubercles on its head, the humpback is known for breaching and other distinctive surface behaviors, as well as the complex songs produced by males, lasting up to 33 minutes. It feeds mainly on krill and small fish, sometimes using cooperative bubble-net feeding techniques. Driven close to extinction by commercial whaling, the species has recovered substantially since the 1960s, although entanglement in fishing gear and ship collisions remain significant threats. This humpback whale with calf was photographed off Moʼorea, an island in French Polynesia. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp Recently featured: |