But how to understand images of posing naked men? And women viewers? Women who regard women with sexual desire and men who regard naked men erotically? And all other visual enjoyment that cannot be categorised according to heterosexual divisions?
From the 16th century onwards male artists who drew young men for a male audience accentuated the sensuality of the body. Boucher may have painted ample, romping women for male peeping-toms but it did not prevent the paintings from being collected by women in the 18th century.
The standing figure in The Mirror of Time opposes the simple divisions between men and women and invites looks and desires that challenge heterosexuality.
Leda and the swan, François Boucher. The Mirror of Time, Cornelis Cornelisz. van Harlem.