''I Modi'' (''The Ways''), also known as ''The Sixteen Pleasures'' or under the Latin title ''De omnibus Veneris Schematibus'', is a famous
erotic book of the
Italian Renaissance that had
engravings of sexual scenes.
The engravings were created in a collaboration between
Giulio Romano and
Marcantonio Raimondi.
They were thought to have been created around 1524 to 1527.
There are now no known copies of the first two editions of ''I modi'' by Giulio Romano and Marcantonio Raimondi.
In around 1530
Agostino Veneziano is thought to have created a replacement set of engravings for the engravings in ''I modi'' by Giulio and Marcantonio.
Giulio Romano and Marcantonio Raimondi edition (around 1524–1527)
The first edition of ''I Modi'' was created in a collaboration between Giulio Romano and Marcantonio Raimondi.
One idea that is speculated is that Giulio drew the figures while Marcantonio designed the settings.
Another idea is that this collaboration occurred when Giulio Romano was doing a series of erotic paintings as a commission for
Federico II Gonzaga’s new
Palazzo Te in
Mantua and Marcantonio Raimondi based the engravings for ''I modi'' on these paintings.
It has also been speculated that the images in ''I modi'' may have been inspired by Ancient Roman
spintria tokens
Pietro Aretino
Pietro Aretino (, ; 19 or 20 April 1492 – 21 October 1556) was an Italian author, playwright, poet, satire, satirist and blackmailer, who wielded influence on contemporary art and politics. He was one of the most influential writers of his ti ...
came to see his paintings. These are the paintings that Marcantonio is thought to have based his engravings on and Romano was still working on these paintings when Aretino came to visit. Romano was not prosecuted since—unlike Marcantonio—his images were not intended for public consumption, and he was not in the Papal States.
Aretino then composed sixteen explicit sonnets to accompany the engravings, and secured Marcantonio's release from prison.
''I modi'' was then published a second time in 1527, now with the sonnets that have given them the traditional English title ''Aretino's Postures''. It is thought that this is the first time erotic text and images were combined, though the papacy once more seized all the copies it could find. It is thought Marcantonio escaped prison on this second occasion, but the suppression on both occasions was comprehensive.
There are presently no remaining copies of the first or second edition of ''I modi''.
Agostino Veneziano copy (around 1530)
It is thought that Agostino Veneziano may have created a single replacement set of engravings for the images created by Giulio and Marcantonio in ''I modi''.British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
, and it is thought that all of these images come from this replacement set of engravings by Agostino.
Copies of the Agostino Veneziano copy of ''I modi''
Woodcut booklet copy (around 1555)
A possibly infringing copy of ''I modi'' with crude illustrations created using woodcut relief printing is thought to copy the images of ''I modi'' that were in the Agostino Veneziano replacement copy of the work.hat
A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
seem to come from different traditions."[ and the engravings were created by Francois-Rolland Elluin based on drawings by ]Antoine Borel
Antoine Borel (December 29, 1840 – March 26, 1915) was a Swiss-American banker who ran the eponymous Borel & Co., headquartered in San Francisco, California.
He was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland and emigrated to the United States in 1862, w ...
.[ It is thought to have been published in Reims or Paris and is in the collection of the National Library of France.][
It is commented in the book that; "Do not expect to find here a literal translation of the Sonnets of Aretino.... ...The Poet only applied himself to rendering the various subjects of the Designer..."
These same sonnets by François-Félix Nogaret were published again in a book in 1869 under the same title.][
In a foreword to the book published in 1869 it is commented that "L'Arétin français, followed by Les Epices de Vénus, first appeared in 1787, then in 1788, then in 1803, 1829, 1830 and 1869".][
In this book from 1869 there are a total of eighteen engravings.][ Seventeen of these eighteen engravings are copies of engravings that are in the book published in 1787.][
For the book published in 1787 there are two images that have some similarities to two images from I modi. One image is similar to an engraving in the National Library of Spain showing sex between two people who are seated. The second image is similar to the 14th image in the woodcut booklet.
For the book published in 1869 there is also an image that is similar to the 14th image in the woodcut booklet.
Henry Wellesley engravings
Henry Wellesley owned two engravings that are now in the collection of the National Library of France,]
17th-century printing
In the 17th century, Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford, engaged in the surreptitious printing at the University Press of ''Aretino's Postures'', Aretino's ''De omnis Veneris schematibus'' and the indecent engravings after Giulio and Marcantonio. The Dean, Dr. John Fell, impounded the copper plates and threatened those involved with expulsion. The text of Aretino's sonnets, however, survives.
Images from ''I modi'' copies
File:Posture 01 - Woodblock cut copy - after Marcantonio Raimondi, Giulio Romano - around 1555 - version 2.jpg, Image 1 woodcut booklet
File:Marcantonio - A nude God and Goddess laying on a bed embracing, 1857,0711.20.jpg, The corresponding image thought to be by Agostino Veneziano. Around 1530.hat
A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
seem to come from different traditions."[ A second idea is that "...these drawings n the fossombrone sketchbookwhile fascinatingly similar to the Modi, differ even more significantly from anything in the visual remains of those prints, as well as from each other in composition and perhaps graphic style."]
File:Print (BM Ii,16.6.1-9 09).jpg, Two fragments cut from the one engraving. These fragments not present in the woodcut booklet. Both fragments are thought to be by Agostino Veneziano. Around 1530.
''Augustine Carracci's The Aretin or Collection of Erotic Postures'' by Jacques Joseph Coiny
In 1798, in Paris, a collection of engravings of sexual scenes were published under the title ''Augustine Carracci's The Aretin or Collection of Erotic Postures''.[The frontispiece states ''À la nouvelle Cythère'', without a date or place of publication.] The engravings were created by Jacques Joseph Coiny.
One theory is that these images were based on the erotic poses in ''The Loves of the Gods'' which was created at the start of the 17th century in Antwerp by Pieter de Jode I with the use of burin. It presently remains uncertain what images these engravings were based on. It is thought that Coiny had a set of six anonymous prints, and it is difficult to say which prints these were.
A second idea[Francis Haskell, ''Taste and the Antique'', ()] is that these engravings were created by Camillo Procaccini, though based on Carracci drawings, which in turn are very similar to the engravings in the edition of ''I modi'' by Giulio and Marcantonio.[ A third idea is that they were created by Agostino Carracci for a later reprint of Aretino's poems.
]
Classical guise in ''Augustine Carracci's The Aretin or Collection of Erotic Postures''
Several factors were used to cloak these engravings from ''Augustine Carracci's The Aretin or Collection of Erotic Postures'' in classical scholarly respectability:
* The images nominally depicted famous pairings of lovers (e.g. Antony and Cleopatra) or husband-and-wife deities (e.g. Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
and Juno) from classical history and mythology engaged in sexual activity, and were entitled as such. Related to this were:
** Portraying them with their usual attributes, such as:
*** Cleopatra's banquets, bottom left
*** Achilles's shield and helmet, bottom left
*** Hercules in his lion-skin and club
*** Mars with his cuirass
*** Paris as a shepherd
*** Bacchus with his vine-leaf crown and (bottom right) grapes
** Referring to the best-known myths or historical events in which they appeared, e.g.:
*** Mars and Venus under the net which her husband Vulcan has designed to catch them
*** ' Aeneas' and ' Dido' in the cave in which their sexual intercourse is alluded in ''Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...
'', Book 4
*** Theseus abandoning Ariadne on Naxos, where Bacchus finds and marries her.
*** The wide adultery of Julia
*** Messalina's participation in prostitution, as criticised in Juvenal's Satire VI.
** Referring to other Renaissance and classical tropes in the depiction of these people and deities, such as
*** The contrast between Mars's dark hair and tanned skin and his partner Venus's untanned, fair skin and fair or even blond hair.
*** Jupiter's full beard
* The frontispiece image is entitled Venus Genetrix, and the goddess is nude and drawn in a chariot by doves, as in the classical sources.
* The bodies of those depicted show clear influences from classical statuary known at the time, such as:
** The over-muscled torso
The torso or trunk is an anatomical terminology, anatomical term for the central part, or the core (anatomy), core, of the body (biology), body of many animals (including human beings), from which the head, neck, limb (anatomy), limbs, tail an ...
s and backs of the men (drawn from sculptures such as the '' Laocoön and his Sons'', '' Belvedere Torso'', and ''Farnese Hercules'').
** The women's clearly defined though small breast
The breasts are two prominences located on the upper ventral region of the torso among humans and other primates. Both sexes develop breasts from the same embryology, embryological tissues. The relative size and development of the breasts is ...
s (drawn from examples such as the Venus de' Medici and Aphrodite of Cnidus)
** The elaborate hairstyles of some of the women, such as his Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
, Juno or Cleopatra (derived from Roman Imperial era busts such as this one).
* Portraying the action in a classical 'stage set' such as an ancient Greek sanctuary or temple.
* The large erect penis
An erection (clinically: penile erection or penile tumescence) is a Physiology, physiological phenomenon in which the penis becomes firm, engorged, and enlarged. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, ...
on the statue of Priapus or Pan atop a puteal in 'The Cult of Priapus' is derived from examples in classical sculpture and painting (like this fresco) which were beginning to be found archaeologically at this time.
Differences from antique art
''Augustine Carracci's The Aretin or Collection of Erotic Postures'' has various points of deviation from classical literature, erotica, mythology and art which suggest its classical learning is lightly worn, and make clear its actual modern setting:
* The male sexual partners' large penises (though not Priapus's) are the artist's invention rather than a classical borrowing – the idealised penis in classical art was small, not large (large penises were seen as comic or fertility symbols, as for example on Priapus, as discussed above).
* The title 'Polyenus and Chryseis' pairs the fictional Polyenus with the actual mythological character Chryseis.
* The title 'Alcibiades and Glycera' pairs two historical figures from different periods – the 5th-century BC Alcibiades and the 4th-century BC Glycera
* Female satyrs did not occur in classical mythology, yet they appear twice in this work (in 'The Satyr and his wife' and 'The Cult of Priapus').
* All the women and goddesses in this work (but most clearly its Venus Genetrix) have a hairless groin (like classical statuary of nude females) but also a clearly apparent vulva
In mammals, the vulva (: vulvas or vulvae) comprises mostly external, visible structures of the female sex organ, genitalia leading into the interior of the female reproductive tract. For humans, it includes the mons pubis, labia majora, lab ...
(unlike classical statuary).
* The modern furniture, e.g.
** The various stools and cushions used to support the participants or otherwise raise them into the right positions (e.g. here)
** The other sex aids (e.g. a whip, bottom right)
** The 16th-century beds, with ornate curtains, carvings, tasselled cushions, bedposts, etc.
Engravings from ''Augustine Carracci's The Aretin or Collection of Erotic Postures''
The images in the table below are the engravings from ''Augustine Carracci's The Aretin or Collection of Erotic Postures''.
Erotic art in the 15th and 16th century
Drawings - Fossombrone Sketchbook - Workshop of Raphael
In the Fossombrone sketchbook, which is from the workshop of Raphael,[
It was further commented that these two drawings "...allow the Modi to be understood as emerging from a collective enterprise, rather than as unique orignary models."][ and that "...these erotic scenes an be seenas pure fantasia, products of heated imagination."][
File:Drawing - sexual scene - Fossombrone sketchbook - Studio of Raphael - 2.jpg, Sex between a female and a male on a kline. Drawing. From the Fossombrone sketchbook.
File:Drawing - sexual scene - Fossombrone sketchbook - Studio of Raphael - 4.jpg, A second different drawing from the Fossombrone sketchbook. This drawing also shows sex between a female and a male.
]
Fresco cycle on the ceiling of the Farnese Gallery - Annibale Carracci and studio (Between 1597 and 1608)
Between 1597 and 1608 Annibale Carracci and his studio painted a fresco cycle on the ceiling of the Farnese Gallery which is located in the west wing of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome.
This fresco cycle is titled '' The Loves of the Gods'' and the images were drawn from Ovid's '' Metamorphoses''. These frescos include nudes that are intimating sex between two people in contrast to the engravings in ''I modi''.
File:Anibale Carracci, Farnese Ceiling, Salmacis and Hermaphroditus.jpg, Painting from the fresco cycle ''Loves of the Gods''. Annibale Carracci and studio. Palazzo Farnese, Rome. Between 1597 and 1608
Image:Carracci - Jupiter et Junon.jpeg, Jupiter and Juno. Painting from the fresco cycle ''Loves of the Gods''. Annibale Carracci and studio. Palazzo Farnese, Rome. 1597 to 1608
Erotic art by Giulio Romano and Marcantonio Raimondi
Giulio Romano and Marcantonio Raimondi have both created erotic art outside of their collaboration on ''I modi''.[ Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Around 1510?][ ]
Erotic Renaissance paintings in the 15th and 16th century
In around 1500 Jacopo de' Barbari created the painting the ''Naked Lovers'' that shows an erotic scene between two standing naked figures. In the first third of the 16th century[See a photo of a description for the painting on wikimedia commons: File:GER — Sachsen — Leipzig — Katharinenstraße 10 (MdbK) Mattes 2022-03-23 Batch (29).jpg] was created that shows a nude female inside a room dropping water into a chest that contains a large heart. At the rear of the room a second person is entering and is vieweing the scene from a doorway. The painting is by an unknown lower Rhenish artist.[
File:Allegory of April - Francesco del Cossa - 1.jpg, ''Allegory of April''. A fresco in the Hall of the Months in the Schifanoia Palace, Ferrara. Francesco del Cossa, Ercole de’ Roberti]
Cultural references
The Restoration closet drama '' Farce of Sodom'' is set in "an antechamber hung with Aretine's postures".
In the 1989 novel ''The Sixteen Pleasures'' by Robert Hellenga, a copy of the book is discovered in a convent following the 1966 flood of the Arno
The 1966 flood of the Arno () in Florence killed 101 people and damaged or destroyed millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. It is considered the worst flood in the city's history since 1557. With the combined effort of Italian and foreign ...
.
See also
* History of erotic depictions
* Homosexuality in ancient Greece
* Homosexuality in ancient Rome
Homosexuality in ancient Rome Societal attitudes toward homosexuality, differed markedly from the contemporary Western culture, West. Latin lacks words that would precisely Translation, translate "homosexual" and "heterosexual". The primary dich ...
* Sexuality in ancient Rome
References
Notes
Talvacchia, Bette "Taking Positions: On the Erotic in Renaissance Culture" Princeton University Press 1999 Page: 250
External links
Selection of images in various versions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Modi, I
1524 books
1527 books
Censored books
Erotic art
Erotic literature
19th-century prints
Prints and drawings in the British Museum
Renaissance prints
Sex manuals
16th-century prints
