The woman who refused to feign orgasms

The Economist is a wondrous magazine. The picture-to-text ratio is extremely low, yet The Economist provides entertaining reading and insight. Reviewing a Titian biography, it reveals that Angela del Moro, model of the famous Venus of Urbino, was Venice's second highest paid courtisan, who was noted for refusing to feign orgasms. Makes you wonder why she wasn't the highest paid...

Titian's painting is so explicit due to the fact that little or no references are made to Greek mythology, of which Venus is part. This is not a classical goddess, but a courtisan staring you blank in the face. For this reason Mark Twain called this painting obscene. In his 1880 travelogue A Tramp Abroad, Mark Twain called the Venus of Urbino "the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses". He proposed that "it was painted for a bagnio [brothel, bathing house], and it was probably refused because it was a trifle too strong", adding humorously that "in truth, it is a trifle too strong for any place but a public art gallery". (Wikipedia)

Titian's 16th century pose inspired many artists, including the great Manet (whose Venus becomes Olympia, staring you even more frankly in the face) and Goya, who painted a clothed and a naked version of Maya.