The period of the Renaissance in the 14th and 16th centuries brought along several changes in the social and cultural position of the artist. Over a period of time, there has has been a increase in the number of painters, sculptors and architects.
Painters, sculptors and poets have a concept of muse. The muses are a sisterhood of goddesses or spirits who embody the arts and inspire the process of creation with their grace. Therefore, one can say it is a divine touch of the goddesses on the artist.
Lucian Freud's Benefits Supervisor Sleeping has been a rage on BBC. Freud's muse has been the model Sue Tilley who posed for Freud for a few days over a span of nine months and got 20 pounds a week.
A muse in the opinion of Germaine Greer, is a female extension of the male artist and to come out with some divine creation, he must have intercourse with. She is therefore the one who gestates and helps the artist bring forth from the womb of his imagination, a unique creation.
There are a few artists in the world whose muse has been their wife or vice versa. In 1486, Andrea Del Sarto, the famous Italian painter used his wife Lucrezia as his muse. She was the ideal image that he had in mind and therefore he made all his female portraits in her mould.
A 20th century muse in real life is Sandra Fisher, the wife of R.B Kitaj whose untimely death exalted her as the artist's muse. Monique Bourgeois who was nursing Matisse also became his muse.
Elena Ivanovna Diakonova was the famous muse to poet Eluard and muse and companion to Salvador Dali. After Elena' s death, one could see the lifelong absence and longing for a muse in his works. Dali lost much of the magic that he created earlier.
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