!00 paintings an artist should had oughta know,maybe

56) Female nude by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon 1758-1823

These are of course not paintings but drawings. Artists have studied the drawings of Prod'hon because they are so finely rendered. These are 18th century works not 19th century works. To my eye they look newer than that.

These are academic figure studies of the sort atelier students do during their training. But these are the best of the best. They are not "straight" renditions of the models, look at the idealized feet on the figure above.

The reflected light on the standing figure above perfectly describes the forms of her body. That has been installed. I am sure it looked somewhat like that, but it has been perfected to fully delineate all of the bosses and hollows of the figure. It is like sculpture done on paper.

Notice the careful modeling of the structure in the left arm (viewers left) The linking and intertwining of the muscles as the originate, swell, and then dive back under the next muscle group to their insertions is like the links of a chain. The volumes and forms are perfectly explained, yet not overblown into monster material.