the Woman’s Legs on his Shoulders while she half-lies on the Bed, 1st century C. E. From the House of Punished Love, Pompeii (Italy).
74. Anonymous, Depiction of “Coitus a Tergo”, 1st century C. E. Pompeii (Italy).
75. Anonymous, Mars with his Spear and Plumed Helmet Caressing Venus’ Breast as she Sits on a Throne and a Putto Looks on, 1st century C. E. Fresco. From the House of Punished Love, Pompeii (Italy).
76. Anonymous, Maenad Solicited by a Satyr wearing earrings. Fresco. From the House of L. Caecilius Jucundus in Pompeii, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples (Italy).
77. Anonymous, Coupling Scene between a Satyr and a Nymph. From the House of the Faun, Pompeii (Italy).
78. Anonymous, Scene of Banquet in Open Air, Pompeii, 1st century C. E. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples (Italy).
79. Anonymous, Mercury with Many Penises, c. 10 °C. E. Pompeii (Italy).
80. Anonymous, Phallic Tintinnabulum, 1st century C. E. Bronze. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples (Italy).
81. Anonymous, Phallic Tintinnabulum. Bronze. Pompeii (Italy).
82. Anonymous, Erotic Scene from the Suburban Baths of Pompeii.
83. Anonymous, Pan with Hermaphroditus, atrium of the House of Dioscuri, Nero’s reign. Wall painting from Pompeii. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples (Italy).
84. Anonymus, Erotic Frieze. Greek Antiquity.
85. Anonymous. Marble low-relief. The Tomb of the Bulls, Tarquinia (Italy).
86. Anonymous, Leda and the Swan, 3rd century C. E. Mosaic. Museum of Nicosia, Nicosia (Cyprus).
87. Anonymous, Erotic Scene. Fresco. Wall painting from Pompeii (Italy).
88. Anonymous, Priapus, 10 °C. E. Fresco. Wall painting from Pompeii (Italy).
89. Anonymous, Faunus, c. 10 °C. E. Pompeii (Italy).
90. Anonymous, Statue of Antinous, Favourite of Emperor Hadrian, c. 130–138 C. E. Marble, h: 199 cm. Archaeological Museum of Delphi, Delphi (Greece).
91. Anonymous, Artemis of Ephesus, 2nd century C. E. Bronze and alabaster. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples (Italy).
92. Anonymous, Phalli, 30 °C. E. Delos (Greece).
The Middle Ages: A Return to Prudery
93. Anonymous, Ariadne and her Cortege, early 6th century C. E. Ivory, 40 × 14 cm. Musée national du Moyen Age, Thermes de Cluny, Paris (France).
On the whole, the rise of Christianity in Europe had a repressive effect on the development of erotic art. Although the early years of Christianity were congruent with Late Antiquity and with the ideals of that time, Christian theology soon began to effect changes in attitudes towards both sexuality and art. In the late fourth and early fifth centuries, Saint Augustine (known as one of the “Four Fathers of the Latin Church”) established some of the basic theological beliefs that were to remain dominant for centuries to come. For Augustine, lust was among the gravest of sins, and had led to the original sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Augustine’s repeated condemnations of lust and his advocacy of chastity created the belief that the body was a vehicle for sin. Sexual representations, and sexuality in general, were thus surrounded with guilt. In fact, among the few specific representations of sexuality in the Middle Ages were symbolic depictions of the sin of lust, personified as a nude figure (usually a woman) with a toad biting at the genitals, and sometimes with snakes biting the breasts.
Medieval images of nude figures were nearly always connected with sin, especially in the case of Adam and Eve. Shown in the Garden, they were most commonly depicted after the Temptation, when they showed shame at their nudity by trying to cover themselves. Among the most famous medieval nudes is the Romanesque lintel sculpture at the Cathedral of Saint-Lazare at Autun in which Eve reclines, reaching behind to grasp the forbidden fruit. Such highly stylised representations were typical of medieval art. For most of the era the Church focused on preparing Christians for the afterlife. Entry into Heaven required the avoidance of the myriad sins of the earthly realm. As a constant source of temptation and a mere stopping place on the way to one’s ultimate redemption, accurate representation of the world (and particularly our sinful bodies) was hardly encouraged.
Such attitudes began to change in the late Middle Ages, particularly following the example of Saint Francis in the thirteenth century. Francis taught that the entire world was God’s divine creation, and our bodies were made in God’s image and were thus divine. This began a moderation of Augustine’s prudish teachings about human bodies that led to the more naturalistic imagery of the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Subject matter remained focused on religion, but was increasingly illusionistic. The Italian painter Giotto was the most famous technical innovator in this regard, but the Limbourg Brothers, working for the Dukes of Burgundy in France, showed a greater degree of realism in their subjects.
In this period when Europe was rarely interested in sexual subjects, India saw erotic art on a scale never rivalled before or since. At a time when Judeo-Christian taboo reigned over sexuality in European art and society, India, by contrast, took a radically unrestrained approach to sexuality, as evidenced by the free exploration of sexual positions in the Kama Sutra and the presence of erotic art on a scale never rivalled before or since. Later, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Chandela Dynasty of rulers in central India built dozens of temples at Khajuraho that prominently featured groups of figures in an enormous variety of sexual positions. While the specific purpose of these figures remains unclear, many varieties of Hinduism revered sexuality as sacred; some devotional acts involved worship of the linga, a stylised penis. These Hindu sculptures are among the most famous and explicit examples of erotic art of any time.
94. Anonymous, Adam and Eve with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (miniature from the Codex Aemilianensis), 994. Real Biblioteca de San Lorenzo, Escorial (Spain).
95. Anonymous,
