The unclothed human figure treated as a principal artistic subject, especially central to the history of classical and Western sculpture.
The nude is the unclothed human figure treated as an artistic subject. In sculpture, the nude has been central to the study of anatomy, proportion, movement, idealization, heroism, vulnerability, beauty, mortality, and the expressive possibilities of the human body.
The sculptural nude became especially important in ancient Greece and was repeatedly reinterpreted in Roman, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, academic, modern, and contemporary sculpture. Depending on period and purpose, the nude may be idealized, naturalistic, heroic, erotic, devotional, allegorical, or deliberately anti-ideal.
Etymology
From Latin nudus, “naked” or “bare,” entering English through French and learned usage.
Sculptor Notes
For the figure sculptor, the nude exposes structure. Without costume to disguise or redirect form, proportion, anatomy, weight, gesture, rhythm, and the transitions between major masses must carry the sculpture.
References
https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-nude-in-western-art-and-its-beginnings-in-antiquity