The depiction of the nude female model by a male artist in oil painting has played a significant role in the western tradition over the last 500 years. The oil painting of the female nude is subject to the artist's interpretation of her form. She is affected by the artist's desire for his model, as well as his art and she is torn between the artist's inability to be both lover and painter. Hubert Damisch's "The Underneaths of Painting" helps the reader understand the importance of the male painter's imaging of the female form. By analyzing Balzac's Unknown Masterpiece, Damisch...
the female nude, one must understand the significance of each one of these factors. For centuries artists have tried to master the conception of the artist and his work, but this task seems fleeting:

How can one artist represent the situation of every painter? Because this feat is impossible, we arrive at a variety of works that all try to express the same topic, but end up drastically different. What is true to all of the representations of the female nude by the male painter is that she is always subject to the desire and love of her creator.