The Perfect Ideal

The Georgian era is famed for its elegance but, beneath the surface, life was somewhat less luxurious. The poor and destitute could often be found strung up naked as artists' models, helping to produce some of British arts finest works.

Georgian artists trained at the Royal Academy often used artists models. It was a chilly life of unusual positions. The models were strung up for hours by ropes, with no food or drink. Night after uncomfortable night they were tied up tight to keep poses without wobbling.

Anonymous A Life Class 1890s

The models were usually poor or homeless. Unlucky ex soldiers or boxers were also in high demand, as they often had good physiques. Male models with muscles were always favoured.

'Old' George White was a famous and popular model. Muscular and bearded, he often played patriarchs and saints. He was painted by, among others, artist Joshua Reynolds, who also made use of him for eight-hour-long anatomical demonstrations.

Modelling wasn't a shameful job for men. Female models, on the other hand, were looked upon as even worse than prostitutes.

William Powell Frith The Sleepy Model 1853

Men got paid one shilling for an evening's work, whereas women got 1/2 a guinea. They needed to be paid "shame money".

The great irony being that these desperate women, looked down on even by prostitutes as the lowest of the low, ended up hanging on many a rich and respectable living room wall, representing Goddesses and "The Perfect Ideal".