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Heroic nudity orideal nudity is a concept inclassical scholarship to describe theun-realist use ofnudity in classicalsculpture to show figures who may beheroes, deities, orsemi-divine beings. This convention began inArchaic andClassical Greece and continued inHellenistic andRoman sculpture. The existence or place of the convention is the subject of scholarly argument.

Inancient Greek art, warriors onreliefs andpainted vases were often shown asnude in combat, which was not in fact the Greek custom, and in other contexts. Idealized young men (butnot women) were carved inkouros figures, andcult images in the temples of some male deities were nude. Later, portrait statues of the rich, including Roman imperial families, were given idealized nude bodies; by now this included women. The bodies were always young and athletic; old bodies are never seen.Pliny the Elder noted the introduction of the Greek style to Rome.

Agnolo Bronzino's paintingPortrait of Andrea Doria as Neptune (c. 1530) andMichelangelo's statueDavid (1501–1504) were Renaissance examples. The convention is occasionally also described in the modern era, such asAntonio Canova's statue ofNapoleon as Mars the Peacemaker (1802–1806) orGeorge Bellows' anti-lynching lithographThe Law Is Too Slow (1923).

Nudity was often thought to be an important aspect of Greek civilization and was frequent in places such as gymnasiums and when competing in games.^[1] At least by the Imperial period of Rome, this concept operated for women as well as for men, with females being portrayed throughVenus and other goddesses.^[2]

Particularly in Roman examples like the Tivoli General or Delos "Pseudo-Athlete", this could lead to an odd juxtaposition of a hyper-realistic portrait bust in the Roman style (warts-and-all for the men, or with an elaborate hairstyle for the women) with an idealized god-like body in the Greek style. Male genitalia explicitly were not depicted as overly well-endowed to separate a noble and modest facade from the connotation in Greek culture that larger endowments belonged to more primal and barbaric characteristics.^[3]

As a concept, it has been modified since its inception, with other types of nudity now recognized in classical sculpture—e.g., the "pathetic" ("ofPathos") nudity of brave but defeated barbarian enemies like theDying Gaul.^[4]Tonio Hölscher has rejected the concept entirely for Greek art of the 4th century BC and earlier.^{[citation needed]}

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  Arrival or departure of a young warrior or hero (maybeTheseus arriving at Athens and being recognized because of his sword by Aegeus).Apulian red-figured volute-krater, ca. 410–400 BC. From Ruvo (South Italy),British Museum.
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  Theseus fightingProkrustes, Attickylix, c. 440-430 BC, British Museum
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  AHellenistic Prince depicted in heroic nudity,National Museum of Rome
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  Roman statue with the head ofMarcellus (1st century CE, after a 5th-century BC Greek prototype)
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  Fashionable Roman lady as Venus (MC245), Musei Capitolini
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  Antonio Canova:Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker (1802–1806) -Napoléon en Mars désarmé et pacificateur,Apsley House, London
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  Auguste Rodin'sThe Thinker, here displayed at theMusée Rodin in Paris, is a well known example of nude heroic sculpture of the early 20th century

• History of nudity
• Depictions of nudity

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• Ancient Greek sculpture
• Nudity
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• Hellenistic sculpture
• Iconography

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