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101. Anonymous, Adam and Eve with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (miniature from the Codex Aemilianensis), 994 CE.

Romanesque. Real Biblioteca de San Lorenzo, Escorial.

The rise of Christianity in Europe had, on the whole, 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 4th and early 5th 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 of Eden, they were most commonly depicted after the Temptation, when they displayed shame at their nudity by trying to cover themselves. Among the most famous medieval nudes is the Romanesque lintel sculpture in the Cathedral of Saint-Lazare at Autun, in which Eve reclines (fig. 111), 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 avoidance of the myriad sins of the earthly realm. As the earthly world was seen as a constant source of temptation and a mere stopping place on the way to ultimate redemption, accurate representation (particularly of our sinful bodies) was not encouraged.

Such attitudes began to change in the late Middle Ages, particularly following the example of Saint Francis in the 13th century. Francis taught that the entire world was God’s divine creation, and that our bodies were made in God’s image and were thus divine. This began a moderation of Augustine’s prudish teachings about human bodies, which led to the more naturalistic imagery of the 14th and early 15th 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 took a radically unrestrained approach to sexuality, as evidenced by the free exploration of sexual positions in the Kama Sutra. Later, during the 11th and 12th 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.

102. Anonymous, Erotic Positions, Vishvanath Temple, Upper Band of the North Wall, c. 95 °CE.

Indian art. Sandstone. Khajuraho (India).

103. Anonymous, Ariadne and her Cortege, early 6th century CE.

Byzantine. Ivory, 40 × 14 cm. Musée national du Moyen Age, Thermes de Cluny, Paris.

104. Anonymous, Lust, 12th century.

Romanesque. Marble, 111 × 40 × 26 cm. Musée des Augustins, Toulouse.

105. Anonymous, Lajja Gauri (fertility goddess), beginning of the 9th century.

Indian art. Stone. The Archaeological Museum, Badami.

106. Anonymous, Torso of Apsara, 11th century.

Indian art. Kiradu, Rajasthan. Stone. Sardar Museum, Jodhpur (India).

107. Anonymous, Linga within a Ring, 11th century.

Indian art. Silver, height: 27.5 cm. Private collection.

108. Anonymous, Vrikshadhirudhakam, mid-12th century.

Indian art. Stone. Surya Temple, Konarak (India). Private collection.

109. Anonymous, Devil and Hedonism, 1120–1135 CE.

Romanesque. West wall, south gate porch, abbey-church of St-Pierre, Moissac. In situ.

110. Anonymous, Adulterous Woman, second decade of the 12th century.

Romanesque. Puerta de las Platerías, Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, Santiago de Compostela. In situ.

111. Gislebertus, Temptation of Eve (Lintel from the North Portal of the Saint-Lazare Cathedral, Autun), c. 113 °CE.

Romanesque. Limestone, 72 × 131 cm. Musée Rolin, Autun.

112. Anonymous, Creation of Eve, 1130–1143 CE.

Romanesque. Mosaic. Palatine Chapel, Palermo.

113. Anonymous, Adam and Eve and Sodomites, 13th-14th century.

Gothic. Illustration from a French manuscript, the Bible moralisée. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.

114. Giotto (Giotto di Bondone), Hell (detail from Last Judgment), 1304–1306.

Proto Renaissance. Fresco, 1000 × 840 cm. Capella degli Scrovegni, Padua.

GIOTTO (GIOTTO DI BONDONE)

(1267, VESPIGNANO – 1337, FLORENCE)

His full name was Ambrogiotto di Bondone, but he is known today, as he was in his own time, by the contraction Giotto, a word which has come to stand for almost all the great things that art has accomplished. In his own day Giotto’s fame as a painter was supreme; he had numerous followers, and these Giotteschi, as they were styled, perpetuated his methods for nearly a hundred years. In 1334, he designed the beautiful Campanile (bell tower), which stands beside the cathedral in Florence, and represents a perfect union of strength and elegance, and was partly erected in his lifetime. Moreover, the sculptured reliefs which decorate its lower part were all from his designs, though he lived to execute only two of them. Inspired by French Gothic sculpture, he abandoned the stiff presentations of the subjects as in Byzantine styles and advanced art towards more realistic presentation of contemporary figures and scenes so as to be more narrative. His breakthrough influenced subsequent development in Italian art. His significant departure from past presentations of the Maestà, starting around 1308 (in Madonna di Ognissanti), brought to it his knowledge of architecture and its perspectives. However, the disproportion of subjects in the presentation is a device intended to rank the subjects by their importance, as was done in Byzantine icons.

Thus, architect, sculptor, painter, friend of Dante and of other great men of his day, Giotto was the worthy forerunner of that galaxy of brilliant men who populated the later days of the Italian Renaissance.

115. Anonymous, Tacuinum Sanitatis, middle of the 15th century.

Gothic. Miniature, 35.5 × 22.5 cm. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

116. Guyart des Moulins, The Historical Bible, volume one, illustration to the Book of Daniel (Susanna and the Elders in the Garden), third quarter of 14th century.

Gothic. Parchment, 45.5 × 31.5 cm. Private collection.

117. Memmo di Filippuccio, The Bedroom, c. 1318.

Proto Renaissance. Museo Civico, San Gimignano.

118. Bartholomeus Anglicus, Book of the Properties of Things (De proprietatibus rerum), c. 1400.

Gothic. Herzog-August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel.

119. Anonymous, Illuminated Manuscript.

Gothic. Private collection.

120. Anonymous, Young Nun Gathering Penises.

Illuminated Manuscript. Gothic. Private collection.

121. Anonymous, Illuminated Manuscript.

Gothic. Private collection.

122. Anonymous, God Mercury Explains that Marriage Must Be Based on Love, frontispiece of Plutarch’s Treatise on Marriage Questions, Addressed to Eurydice and Pollianus, 15th-16thcentury.

Early Renaissance. Parchment, 45.5 × 31.5 cm. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

123. Anonymous, Illuminated Manuscript.

Gothic. Private collection.

124. Master of Manta Castle, The Fountain of Youth: Cycle of the nine heroes and nine heroines, after 1416.

Late Gothic. Fresco. Castello della Manta, Saluzzo.

125. Anonymous, The King Wenceslas and the Bathers (miniature from the Bulle d’Or of the Emperor Charles IV), 1400.

Gothic. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.

126. Filippo Calendario, Original Sin, 1340–1355.

Gothic. Marble. Palazzo ducale di Venezia, Venice.

127. Anonymous, Adam (from the south-side of the Notre-Dame Transept, Paris), c. 1260.

Gothic. Polychrome stone, height: 200 cm. Musée national du Moyen Age, Thermes de Cluny, Paris.

This statue of Adam is one of the rare nudes of medieval art. Larger than life-size, this statue originally decorated the exterior of Notre-Dame in Paris. Paired with Eve, it was part of a Last Judgment scene. The nudity of the figure recalls classical prototypes, and the s-shaped pose and sinuous body of Adam owes a particular debt to 4th-century BCE sculptors such as Praxiteles and Lysippos. The soft, unmuscled body, however, does not reflect the classical ideal. Most of the human sculpture of the Middle Ages was clothed in long robes, and a sculptor would have had little opportunity to study the nude. Despite the lack of precedent, however, the sculptor of this piece has captured the human body in detail, showing the anatomy below the surface, especially on the figure’s torso.

128. Arnolfo di Cambio, Sick Man at the Fountain (sculpture fragment), c. 13th century.

Gothic. Marble. Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, Perugia.

129. Anonymous, Illuminated Manuscript.

Gothic. Private collection.

130. Anonymous, Illuminated Manuscript.

Gothic. Private collection.

131. Limbourg Brothers (Jean, Paul and Herman), Temptations of a Young Christian (miniature from The Très Belles Heures of the Duke of Berry), 1408–1409.

Early Renaissance. Ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum, 23.8 × 17 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Arts, Cloisters Collection, New York.

132. Anonymous, Illuminated Manuscript.

Gothic. Private collection.

133. Anonymous, The Temptations of Wordly Delights (miniature from the Œuvres de Christine de Pisan), first quarter of the 15th century.

Early Renaissance. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

134. Anonymous, Illuminated Manuscript.

Gothic. Private collection.

135. Limbourg Brothers (Jean, Paul and Herman), Original Sin (miniature from The Très Belles Heures of the Duke of Berry), c. 1417.

Early Renaissance. Musée Condé, Chantilly.

136. Anonymous, Illuminated Manuscript.

Gothic. Private collection.

137. Anonymous, miniature from the manuscript Memorable Deeds and Sayings by Valerius Maximus, middle of the 15th century.

Gothic. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin.

138. Anonymous, History of Merlin: Merlin’s conception, c. 1450–1455.

Early Renaissance. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

139. Anonymous, The Love Charm, 15th century.

Gothic (German School). Oil on panel, 24 × 18 cm. Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig.

140. Donatello (Donato di Niccolo Bardi), David, c. 1440–1443.

Early Renaissance. Bronze, height: 158 cm. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

Donatello’s David stands, victorious, over the head of the dead giant. He holds the large sword of the giant and wears a hat and boots. The statue caused a small scandal when it was first displayed because of the nudity of the figure. While nudity was not unknown in sculpture, it seems gratuitous here, not required by the subject, as it would be in a portrayal of Adam, for example. David’s nudity is also accentuated by his hat and boots, which seem incongruous in the absence of other clothing. The statue is also notable in being cast of bronze, showing the advance in that technology. While the contrapposto stance is derived from classical models, the figure is more feminine looking than male sculptures from the Greek or Roman worlds.

DONATELLO (DONATO DI NICCOLO BARDI)

(FLORENCE, C. 1386–1466)

Donatello, an Italian sculptor, was born in Florence, and received his initial training in a goldsmith’s workshop; he worked for a short time in Ghiberti’s studio. Too young to enter the competition for the baptistery gates in 1402, the young Donatello accompanied Brunelleschi when, in disappointment, he left Florence and went to Rome to study the remains of classical art. During this period Brunelleschi undertook his measurements of the Pantheon dome, which enabled him to construct the noble cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, while Donatello acquired his knowledge of classic forms and ornamentation. The two masters, each in his own sphere, were to become the leading spirits in the art movement of the 15th century.

Back in Florence around 1405, he was entrusted with the important commissions for the marble David and for the colossal seated figure of St John the Evangelist. We find him next employed at Orsanmichele. Between 1412 and 1415, Donatello completed the St Peter, the St George and the St Mark.

Between the completion of the niches for Orsanmichele and his second journey to Rome in 1433, Donatello was chiefly occupied with statuary work for the campanile and the cathedral. Among the marble statues for the campanile are the St John the Baptist, Habakkuk, the so-called “Il Zuccone” and Jeremiah.

During this period Donatello executed some work for the baptismal font at San Giovanni in Sienna, which Jacopo della Quercia and his assistants had begun in 1416. The relief, Feast of Herod, already illustrates the power of dramatic narration and the skill of expressing depth of space by varying the treatment from plastic roundness to the finest stiacciato.

In May 1434, Donatello was back in Florence and immediately signed a contract for the marble pulpit on the facade of the Prato cathedral, a veritable bacchanalian dance of half-nude putti, the forerunner of the “singing tribune” for the Florence cathedral, on which he worked intermittently from 1433 to 1440.

But Donatello’s greatest achievement of his “classic period” is the bronze David (fig. 140), the first nude statue of the Renaissance, well-proportioned, superbly balanced, suggestive of Greek art in the simplification of form, and yet realistic, without any striving after ideal proportions.

In 1443 Donatello was invited to Padua to undertake the decoration of the high altar of San Antonio. In that year the famous Condottiere Erasmo de’ Narni, known as Gattamelata, had died, and it was decided to honour his memory with an equestrian statue. This commission, and the reliefs and figures for the high altar, kept Donatello in Padua for ten years. The Gattamelata was finished and unveiled in 1453, a powerful and majestic work.

Donatello spent the remaining years of his life in Florence.