When a man paints a naked woman he gives her less than poor Nature did. I can conceive of few circumstances wherein I would have to paint a woman naked, but if I did I would not mutilate her for double the money. She is the most beautiful thing there is except a naked man, but I never saw a study of one exhibited.
Thomas Eakins, Lloyd Goodrich, Whitney Museum of American Art (1970). “Thomas Eakins: retrospective exhibition, September 22 to November 21, 1970, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York”
