Beauty is studied in a branch of philosophy called "esthetics," sometimes spelled aesthetics. I am not sure if philosophers really understand it. Plato said that beauty is a reflection of the ideal world made manifest to men. In other words, when we are moved by beauty, we are in touch -- however briefly -- with heaven.
Beauty is one of those subjects that can be defined only by indirection. In other words, we all know it when we see it, but cannot define it very readily.
The concern of Americans about pornography on the web has tended to blur the line between nudity and pornography. Every nude figure study is not pornography, or we would have to burn a high percentage of all painting in the Louvre. Matisse, Picasso, Rubens, Renoir, would all be pilloried as pornographers. No, I think, not hardly. In fact, great paintings of the Madonna were posed for by professional models no more or less moral than most of the women whose photographs appear on this website.
The redeeming social value of nude or figure studies on the web lies in the artistry of great photography. To that, add the skills of great scanners, who can digitize great photography and preserve the brilliance, the color, the depth. The unsung heroes of this site are the great photographers and scanners who took young women-- admittedly remarkably beautiful -- and brought that beauty to life for us.
Keats said, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty, / That is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." Beauty on the Grecian Urn was timeless, and Keats implies that great beauty glimpsed in the world of men is a reflection or "gleam" of a higher order. Keats see beauty as the timeless moment breaking into the world of materiality and time.
Beauty was often distinguished by great painters from mere prettiness. A beautiful model inspired great art, because she had a "greatness of soul." Conversely, a merely pretty women seldom inspired great painting. Renoir once said, "I can paint an ugly woman as beautiful, but a merely pretty woman . . . never."
Photogenic beauties who draw attention through their photographs have a quality that we might term "charisma." There's something electric or magnetic about them. Again, as with beauty itself, we are groping for definitions and terms here. Why does Naomi Campbell have 3,910 websites featuring her in some way? Why not similar fame for "Jane Doe" or "Mary Smith?" Ms. Campbell just has a certain something. Trying to define that something is very difficult, but I believe it is there.
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Beauty as Tragic-- How does beauty figure into art and literature? One of the oldest themes in literature has involved beauty as tragic. The best example, perhaps, is Helen of Troy. Helen did not want to be abducted. She was kidnapped and taken to Troy because of her great beauty. Throughout the Iliad, she appears to just "want to go home." The Grecian king begins a great war to get her back that involves the pillage, burning, and sacking of Troy. Remember Marlowe's famous lines from "Doctor Faustus," of Helen--
Is this the face that launched a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Illium?
Beauty is either a great gift or a great curse, or both, in classical literature. Recall Shakespeare's Othello, or Romeo and Juliet. Recall the damage done by Guinevere, who tore Camelot apart with her love for Lancelot. King Arthur says to her, at their last meeting, when his kingdom is in ruins: "Your children are fire, red ruin, and the breaking down of law." Not much of a compliment.
Beauty can be-- what? Beauty becomes a judgment about form. A Grecian Urn can be beautiful, a quarterhorse can be beautiful, a sunset can be beautiful. In art, also, the human form is oftentimes seen as beautiful. Donatello and Michelangelo tended to portray male forms in part because they were attracted to male forms. Many male artists with hererosexual interests have tended to portray the female form. Women fascinate many male artists because they have both an "inside" and an "outside." A Grecian urn does not, nor does the still life of a bowl of fruit. Any human being has both an inside and an outside-- a spirit, or personality, as well as a visual form. Painters tend to paint what interests them. Mary Cassat painted children-- some of the best ever put on canvas. Essentially, artists tend to paint what they like to paint.
Renoir and Degas -- and others of course -- painted women. Renoir was hardly a lecher or a villain-- in fact, up to his death at an advanced age, he was surrounded by a household filled with women-- his wife, his daughters, and various maids whom he loved to paint. In fact, his wife was frustrated because he insisted she keep maids in the household who were clumsy and inept servants-- because they were so well suited as models. Renoir may or may not have been absolutely faithful-- he was French, after all -- but biographies of him reveal a family man, a good father, and a good husband. It's interesting that his last years were devoted almost entirely to painting nudes. The "bather" paintings are very late. At that point he was so badly crippled with arthritis the brushes had to be strapped to his forearms. Frankly, I don't like his late work very much. Throughout his career, Renoir often painted women with their children. Many other artists have done the same. In fact, most of the madonnas of the Renaissance artists portray a woman with child.
We like to consider ourselves more moral today than our forbearers. Frankly, I believe much of today's culture is about as deep as a coat of paint. Everything has to be canned, or packaged, and is leveled down to the cartoon level -- Barbara Anderson of Baywatch is about as deep as we go with respect to beauty. With militants of various stripe -- feminists, or self-appointed moral watchdogs -- insisting that any portrayal of woman in art is a degradation. "Lots of luck."