Bodily beauty has inspired timeless masterpieces, with geniuses from antiquity to the Renaissance moved to depict the naked human form.

These priceless depictions by visionaries like Titian and Michelangelo hang in the world’s greatest galleries, drawing hordes of visitors.

But bared beauties from Aphrodite to Adam and Eve have raised a few questions as well as sighs of admiration.

Professor Mary Beard has suggested that visitors should not just ogle art in amazement, but reflect on whether the numerous nudes are nothing more than “soft porn for the elite”.

The author, academic, and BBC presenter has no problem with nakedness, and her new programme The Shock Of the Nude will examine its artistic merits.

She has however questioned the worth of wall-to-wall nudity in places like the National Gallery, and wants the admiring public to think more critically about the abundance of female figures, and their noticeable lack of clothing.