[Verginius Rufus]

The ancient statue group of Laocoon and his two sons (all naked--and the serpents are naked too) was rediscovered in 1506 and put on display in Rome. The Protestant Reformation began 11 years later.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc?

[tired&retired]

The real question is why wasn’t he shown as the original Jewish David, circumcised?

[Rockingham]

By the 1470s, with inspiration from Roman and Greek art, the study of the nude form and works presenting it were standard in artistic training in Tuscany, spreading from there to other parts of Europe. Then as now though, nudity was problematic, and especially so in art in churches even as the New Testament describes Christ as stripped nude when he was crucified.

To downplay that, the Protestant Reformation eliminated the crucifix, reduced it to an abstraction, or omitted or partly obscured the nudity of the crucified Christ. More broadly, Protestants were hostile toward even Christian art in churches. Taken to its logical conclusion, this resulted in a comprehensive preference for plainness in church architecture, in services and prayer, and in personal manners. Something of the same thing happened in Islam, with the conquering desert tribes destroying or painting over Christian art and rejecting any depiction of the human form.