In general, were animals anatomically correct in ancient representations in art? [possibly NSFW]?

Until approximately 5000 years ago, humans worshiped female deities, and they made anatomically correct figurines of nude female figures. A number of these have survived.

I am unaware whether ancient art represented gendered animals.

Not sure about animals. But Greek and Roman statuary was explicitly detailed, particularly for human male nudes, but also for female.

Certainly at times they were genetically accurate. Here’s one example, the statue of the wolf sucking Romulus and Remus

And here’s a lion from ancient Greece.

But I’m not sure you can categorically opine without a sweeping survey of the art of the periods. And often an animal’s genitals are not immediately obvious.

@gorillapaws Can you please clarify what you mean by ancient? I don’t consider statuary from Classical periods of Greece and Rome as ancient.

@Hawaii_Jake I was thinking more of tribal art from around the world, but I guess classical art is acceptable too. The main question is if this “Disneyfication” (for lack of a better term) where body parts are omitted is a modern thing (since Victorian times maybe?) or if it’s been done for thousands or tens of thousands of years? I know there’s a “Western tradition” with values like modesty and chastity that aren’t necessarily universally held across cultures and time.

Some of these guys appear to have genitals.

The cave paintings not so much.

But again, I don’t think you can draw any conclusions about modesty since most of these are abstractions. I think it’s more a question of iconography and what the artist or culture felt was important to show.

(I have a background in art history.)

It varies, but in general, I’d say that widespread omitting of genitals because “eek, genitals!” is mostly a Victorian-and-later thing.

Of course, often even a real photographic view of an animal doesn’t feature visible genitals, and much prehistoric art is stylistic and often not extremely detailed or realistic, and each drawing may emphasize or omit genitals for other specific reasons of the artist.

But there are many examples of prehistoric art with intentional genitals indicated. Many cases I’ve seen, they stand out because recognizably including them emphasizes them and tends to look odd in many of the prehistoric art styles.

Thanks for all of the great answers thus far! Is anyone familiar with figures/toys/dolls that may have survived in tombs or otherwise? Are there examples of ancient “Winnie-the-Pooh analogs” with their equipment in tact?