why are some sculptures naked?

[crisgal]

by which I mean, why, when, say for example, a battle is depicted, one of the people will be totally naked. Is there a reason why this is? Does it mean they were killed or something?

[Buenchico]

I doubt that there's any specific reason.

However, depicting someone as naked during a battle makes the point that the person is an individual, whose life is as valuable as that of any other person involved in the battle, irrespective of whether his uniform is Roundhead or Cavalier, Union or Confederate, British or Nazi, American or Iraqi.

Chris

[crisgal]

hello chris! you helped me loads two years ago when i went on a short break to London!

My friend has just returned from paris, where, in the Larc de triomphe, they was a battle scene where all but one of the soldiers were clothed. we were trying to figure out if it signified something. (Like when a horse is painted with all feet on the ground or not)

[jno]

I don't know but it may be as Chris suggests, the need to show one at least as human - he may, for instance, represent a dead soldier in the form he'll go to heaven (or wherever). Another possibility is just the technical challenge: sculpting human body is more of a challenge than sculpting clothes, and the artist may just have wanted to show he could do it.

[crisgal]

i must apologise for my very poor English (and indeed French!) in the last post (I was dying for a wee!)

[Mr Veritas]

The Ancient Greeks because they considered the Human body to be created by the Gods,were quite content to depict it naked,especially the Male form, and more especially in battle/conflict scenes.
They considered this to show off the nobility of war and the military.
Renaissance Art (because it considered itself the heir of Ancient Greece) copied their ideas.
This tradition of nobility/war (for male nudes at least) went on up till the end of the 19th Cetury,but was finally destroyed by the 1st World War (not much to depict as noble there).
The Male and Female nude in art survives though.All we have lost is the depiction of the Male nude in a noble/warlike/virile depiction.
I personally don't think we have lost much.

[swedeheart]

some (greek) info here

[Peter Pedant]

Interesting link above

The Romans (but I have no reference) who were not noted for their modesty, thought the Greeks wore too little and needed to dress up a bit
so even contemporaneously, it was worthy of comment