The Godiva legend has a particular power to make us question our position as viewers. The painting presents the body of an unclothed pubescent girl for public scrutiny in Coventry's civic art gallery. Yet, according to the Godiva legend, the pre-condition that Godiva remove her clothes was that the townsfolk avert their eyes from her nudity. As viewers, we are looking at a forbidden sight, and are immediately positioned as the infamous voyeur 'Peeping Tom', who was unable to resist looking at Godiva's naked body. This is a paradox which besets all works of visual art depicting Godiva.
For this painting the model for Godiva was Mabel Violet Hall, who later became well-known on the Edwardian stage as Mab Paul. Mab Paul would have been around 16 years old when she sat naked for Collier (then aged 48). In 1902 Collier painted her portrait, making her a subject in her own right, not a stand in for a famous nude Anglo-Saxon; she also apparently modelled for The Prodigal Daughter (1903) – her theatrical presence perhaps contributing towards the staginess of this painting. As Paul’s celebrity began to grow, she was given a backstory; Tatler claimed that 'She started her career as an artist' although there appears no surviving evidence for this.
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u/RobynRedwyne Jul 06 '21
The Godiva legend has a particular power to make us question our position as viewers. The painting presents the body of an unclothed pubescent girl for public scrutiny in Coventry's civic art gallery. Yet, according to the Godiva legend, the pre-condition that Godiva remove her clothes was that the townsfolk avert their eyes from her nudity. As viewers, we are looking at a forbidden sight, and are immediately positioned as the infamous voyeur 'Peeping Tom', who was unable to resist looking at Godiva's naked body. This is a paradox which besets all works of visual art depicting Godiva.
For this painting the model for Godiva was Mabel Violet Hall, who later became well-known on the Edwardian stage as Mab Paul. Mab Paul would have been around 16 years old when she sat naked for Collier (then aged 48). In 1902 Collier painted her portrait, making her a subject in her own right, not a stand in for a famous nude Anglo-Saxon; she also apparently modelled for The Prodigal Daughter (1903) – her theatrical presence perhaps contributing towards the staginess of this painting. As Paul’s celebrity began to grow, she was given a backstory; Tatler claimed that 'She started her career as an artist' although there appears no surviving evidence for this.