Vermeer treats his imagined sitter in Girl with a Pearl Earring with kindness, where light bounces off of the woman’s skin.

Confidence is best exemplified in Olympia, Manet’s painting where the lady of the night addresses the audience. She is not reclining in invitation. She is not averting her gaze in modesty. She is looking directly at whoever has entered the room.

In the German Expressionist manner, Egon Schiele’s contorted woman in Seated Woman with Bent Knee is raw, vulnerable, and honest.

In an ordered, balanced, and performative canvas, the ornamental Venus in Botticelli’s Birth of Venus sits in prominence, untouchable and revered.