From our Grey Lady pearl-clutching desk

The hardblushing staff has long chronicled the growing willingness of the New York Times to bare all in the name of art – or commerce – in its advertising.

Representative samples include this ulp-skirt ad from Louis Vuitton six years ago . . .

and this Gagosian Gallery ad four years ago . . .

and this Christie’s ad the same year . . .

and this M.S. Rau Antiques ad two years ago.

Now the same auction house is back in the Times with an ad for “this vibrant, monumental Salon painting” by Julius LeBlanc Stewart.

As it happens, the naked gal in the foreground is not an American gone au naturel, but “[a nymph] of the goddess Artemis embarking on a woodland hunt.” The American in question is actually Stewart.

Glad we got that sorted out.