Erotic Cultures of Renaissance Italy

Name: Erotic Cultures of Renaissance Italy
Brand: Taylor & Francis

Taylor & Francis

Concentrating largely on the 'middle ranks' of Renaissance society this book addresses lacunae in current scholarship on the social and visual dimensions of sexuality in early modern Italy. Looking at neglected archival resources, amateur pornography and material artefacts often dismissed by historians of art and society, contributors here expose the existence of a pervasive erotic culture in which sexually explicit images, gestures and objects were considered essential to a variety of rituals and social occasions. > Concentrating largely on the 'middle ranks' of society in Renaissance Italy - artisans, merchants, and professionals such as bankers and lawyers - this book focuses on new social subjects, new documents and unusual objects. Using innovative methods of inquiry and interdisciplinary analytical tools, contributors explore a little-known but pervasive erotic culture in which sexually explicit artefacts, games and gestures were considered essential to a number of rituals aA