Renaissance Nuns and Their Bodies. Sexuality isn’t normally something we attribute to nuns. But, of course, the sexuality of Renaissance nuns was vitally important. Their lack of sex is precisely what made them effective mediators between the Renaissance faithful and Christ, who was, himself, celibate. While we tend to think of nuns as shrouded in …
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Women on Top
In my last post I examined the connections between technology and erotica and emerging discourses of art and pornography through the creation of the Modi, a series of racy prints. I argued that early modern conceptions of art were closely tied to the (male) artist’s ability to depict a beautiful, nude female body. In such …
Erotic Technologies
Printing, Piracy and Porn New technologies have played an active role in the form and dissemination of modern pornography. In the 19th century photography allowed for the production of supposedly ‘real’ images. Advances in media technologies such as color printing and moving pictures similarly facilitated the spread of erotic imagery. The advent of streaming video …
The Enchantress of Art History
Who was Simonetta Vespucci? Why does she continue to beguile us? In 1469 a sixteen-year-old girl named Simonetta Cattaneo married Marco Vespucci. Her beauty earned her a host of admirers, including Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici. These men wrote her poetry, fought in jousts to win her favor, and watched as she performed as a …
There’s Something About Mary
Why were Renaissance Europeans so obsessed with the Virgin Mary’s breasts? If you know anyone with an infant, you may be aware of current debates surrounding breastfeeding in public. Breast feeding was also a major preoccupation of Renaissance artists and viewers. Publicly visible in churches and found in many homes, images of the Virgin’s breast …
Sexual Healing
Before the advent of the little blue pill, Renaissance men and women turned to apothecaries and folklore in order to attain sexual satisfaction. The ceramic drug jar above depicts a phallus complete with testicle haunches, bird’s feet and wings, a rabbit’s ears and face, and sporting a bell around its neck. This jar is one …
Full Frontal
What did Renaissance people see when they looked at nude bodies, voluptuous flesh and sexual acts? This question is more complex than you might think. Today, we would label images of the eroticized body and coitus as pornography, but in the early 16th century the modern pornography industry had not yet been born. The word …
Introducing the OK Art Historian
Who is the OK Art Historian? My name is Maria Maurer, and, you guessed it, I live and work in the state of Oklahoma. I research, write and teach about gender and sexuality in Renaissance art. I’m particularly interested in art that upsets our preconceptions about the Renaissance, so I write about women as viewers …
The Renaissance Uncensored 