"A book that, for once, delivers much more than its title promises. Not merely a study of the male nude in Renaissance art but an exploration of its influence down through the centuries, it (unusually in an academic work) does not shy away from considering the sometimes openly homoerotic appeal of numerous works in the genre. The generous and high-quality illustrations—many of them rarely seen in reproduction—are a real eye-opener too."
Publisher Yale University Press
Publication Date 2018-10-30
Section Art / All Staff Suggestions / Nonfiction Suggestions / Alan H.
Format Hardcover
ISBN 9780300236552
Renaissance bodies, dressed and undressed, have not lacked attention in art historical literature, but scholarship on the male body has generally concentrated on phallic-oriented masculinity and been connected to issues of patriarchy and power. This original book examines the range of meaning that has been attached to the male backside in Renaissance art and culture, the transformation of the base connotation of the image to high art, and the question of homoerotic impulses or implications of admiring male figures from behind. Representations of the male body's behind have often been associated with things obscene, carnivalesque, comical, or villainous. Presenting serious scholarship with a deft hand, Seen from Behind expands our understanding of the motif of the male buttocks in Renaissance art, revealing both continuities and changes in the ways the images convey meaning and have been given meaning.
