The academic’s latest TV show investigates the line between art and pornography
![Mary Beard sits for naked portrait in new BBC programme](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ada36c37a3c20eab8ec0deacb8c94ac3a7210cbe/214_530_3050_1830/master/3050.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=abacaa2850beac7244d9cfc8c4915bc0)
The academic and TV presenter Mary Beard has taken a bold approach to her new two-part investigation of the history and impact of the nude in art by choosing to sit as the subject of a naked portrait herself.
Beard’s new programme, Shock of the Nude, sees the academic examine famous examples from Michelangelo’s David to John William Waterhouse’s pre-Raphaelite painting Hylas and the Nymphs, and discuss the experience of sitting as a subject for Catherine Goodman.