The Art Historical Male: Redefining Caravaggio`s Youth

The Art Historical Male:
Redefining Caravaggio’s Youth
Dan Byrne
The Art-Historical Male: Redefining Caravaggio’s Youths1
Daniel Byrne
According to the seventeenth century writer Giovanni Baglione,
Caravaggio was a “[…] satirical and haughty man” and he would “often speak
badly of all painters of the past and present, no matter how distinguished they
were…”2 Although several documents on the life of Michelangelo Merisi da
Caravaggio have survived, can one truly use this information to place his
paintings in an auto-biographical context? Answering this question is problematic; however, by placing Caravaggio’s works in their art-historical context, one
may learn more about the artist and the intentions of his works. In his study The
Complete Paintings of Caravaggio, Michael Kitson surveys the life of Caravaggio
and labels his ‘youth’ paintings as “[…] erotically appealing boys painted by an
artist of homosexual inclinations for patrons of similar tastes.”3 While Kitson’s
proposal is vague, it is essential for one to understand that this is a theory;
historical records thus far show no affirmative evidence that Caravaggio was in
fact a homosexual. From this, readers may begin to analyse Caravaggio’s
intentions for his youth paintings and posit some questions: do Caravaggio’s youths
exude a homo-erotic appeal and the artist’s so called ‘homosexual inclinations’? Are the
youths homosexual themselves, or simply visual representations of male beauty? Considering
these questions, Donald Posner expands Kitson’s claims.
In Caravaggio’s Homo-Erotic Early Works,4 Posner gives readers a ‘queereye’ perspective on the nature of Caravaggio’s youths. In the case of
Caravaggio’s half length youths, Posner says, “[…] we are forced to recognize
the androgynous character of the figures as central to the artist’s intended
aesthetic.”5 Without question, Caravaggio’s Borghese Fruit Vendor (Fig. 1) and
the Hermitage Lutenist (Fig. 2) are indeed androgynous. Posner continues to
label such works as “[…] redolent of homo-erotic content.”6 One would ask,
what aspect of the figures’ androgyny classifies their supposed homosexuality? Little
information is left regarding the lives of Caravaggio’s youth models. Consequently, scholars have difficulty making supportable claims about the models’
sexual orientations.
Creighton Gilbert’s Caravaggio and His Two Cardinals disputes Posner
for manipulating historical evidence to support the theory that Caravaggio was
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a homosexual. Gilbert does not argue against this theory that Caravaggio was
not a homosexual, but simply challenges Posner’s thesis. Gilbert argues that
Posner’s theory is both unjust and manipulated.7 In the records of his testimony of 1607, Caravaggio is described as sharing a bardassa, which is Italian for
a male who assumes a female role during sex.8 Posner proposes that this
bardassa is the visual example of homosexuality in Caravaggio’s youth paintings.9 Although the androgyny of Caravaggio’s youths may lead one to think
that the artist’s suggested homosexuality has influenced his paintings, it is
critical that the viewer consider the cultural history of homosociality.
Homosociality is defined as same-sex relations that are purely non-sexual;
homosociality is not applied to concepts of heterosexuality or homosexuality.
From the ancient Greeks to the Italian seicento,10 ideas and concepts of
homosociality and homosexuality have developed to suit the political and social
guidelines of their respective society. In Art, Desire, and the Body in ancient Greece,
Andrew Stewart recalls the earliest concepts of masculinity and homosociality
in ancient Greece. Placing Greek art in its historical and socio-political mainframe, Stewart defines the importance of the male and how masculinity was
measured by society. Whether or not Caravaggio had access to antique works
such the Doryphoros (Fig. 3), it is plausible that his depictions of the male youths
share a similar aesthetic and social quality held by the ancient Greeks. In
addition, Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality explores the evolution of
sexuality and how societies defined men and masculinity. Foucault constructs
the history of masculinity and uses the works of Plato and Aristotle, which help
to place Caravaggio’s youths in an art-historical context. Furthermore, James
Saslow’s Ganymede in the Renaissance: Homosexuality in Art and Society investigates
the popular figure of Ganymede, whose androgyny and masculinity were
celebrated from antiquity to the late cinquecento. Although Caravaggio did not
paint a Ganymede, Saslow notes, “Instead Caravaggio painted such relatively
indirect subjects as Bacchus and Cupid.”11
If in fact Caravaggio had intended to allude to the concepts of
Ganymede through other subjects such as Bacchus (Fig. 4), it is possible that this
youth was meant to be seen as more than a classical figure, but a clear homoerotic depiction catering to the artist’s ‘homosexual’ inclinations. Since
Caravaggio’s Bacchus and Amor Victor (Fig. 5) are ambiguous in meaning, one
may juxtapose the two youths to the concepts of Neoplatonism, a school of
thought that developed in the latter half of the quattrocento.12 Neoplatonism
provides an alternative explanation regarding Caravaggio and homoeroticism,
and his youths are of greater significance when analyzed under these contexts.
Although profound and sexually suggestive, Caravaggio’s select works become
representations of male beauty, love and virtue, despite modern claims.13 In his
The Art Historical Male 95
Caravaggio Studies, Walter Friedlander emphasizes the ideas of Neoplatonism in
relation to Caravaggio’s Amor Victor. Similar to Giovanni Baglione’s Divine Love
(Fig. 6), Caravaggio’s Amor Victor is described as “[…] alluding to everything
associated with the highest human values.”14 In the context of Neoplatonism,
Caravaggio’s youths are thus seen as powerful and ideal representations of male
beauty and masculinity – a direct break from the visual history of male
representation.
Caravaggio’s youths successfully redefine masculinity in the arthistorical context of homosociality. In contrast to contemporary criticism such
as Posner and Gilbert, I will develop an inquiry into the history of
homosociality in order to posit an alternate view of Caravaggio’s youths. This
thesis will challenge these modern theories in relation to a formulated arthistorical method. Modern scholars tend to epitomize Caravaggio’s youths as
homo-erotic, which inherently isolates Caravaggio’s true intentions as an artist.
Comparing theories proposed by Kitson and Posner to counter-theories such as
Gilbert’s and Friedlander’s, the study of Caravaggio’s youth paintings in their
art-historical contexts become conducive in the history of art. Elaborating this
claim of conduciveness, I will look beyond the standard arguments of
Caravaggio’s youths as ‘homo-erotic’ and ultimately focus on the artist’s
discourse in the tradition of male representations from antiquity to the Italian
seicento. Elaborating these claims, I will make a short, yet comprehensive
overview of homosocial concepts from ancient Greece up until the early Italian
seicento. Reiterating the history of homosociality, homosexuality and the male
gender, Caravaggio’s youth paintings will thus be understood as something
more than ‘homo-erotic.’
I. Homosociality: Socio-Political Reconstructions of the Male Gender,
Sexuality, and Provocation in the Ancient Greek Polis
Antique concepts of homosociality, masculinity, and homosexuality
provide a significant discourse for Caravaggio’s youth paintings. If in fact
Caravaggio had access to Greek or Roman antiquities during his artistic career,
the study of Caravaggio’s youth paintings as a discourse in the historical
representation of man, would most likely give further evidence to the true
nature of his works. Unfortunately, modern scholarship has not been able to
prove this and Caravaggio’s youth paintings remain a mystery; but what can be
said about their art-historical contexts is affirmative in the history of antique
homosociality. As mentioned, homosociality is the platonic relationship between
two individuals of the same sex; homosociality is not defined by homosexual or
heterosexual conventions, but human relations and how these relations are
envisaged in society. Although opposing societies – ancient Greece, Classical
96 Dan Byrne
Rome, Renaissance Italy – may teach a different philosophy of homosociality,
the root concept of homosociality remains clear and consistent.15 This historical perspective is documented through Stewart’s Art, Desire, and the Body in
ancient Greece. Detailing the properties of gender in the Greek polis, Stewart
defines antique masculinity and how this masculinity fell into the socio-political
frame of homosociality between men. Secondly, Stewart looks deeper into
Greek society by exploring the male body and how the ancient Greek populous
idolized him. Although Stewart makes compelling claims between the accepted
homosocial relationships between men, applying these claims to Caravaggio’s
youth paintings may seem problematic. Assuming Caravaggio had access to
antique artefacts, could one argue his youth paintings are a modern visualization of
homosociality – perhaps, even, the epitomized forms of early male masculinity as codified by
the Greeks?16 Circumventing these ideas, readers can only speculate on their
veracity. One must also consider homosociality and pederasty. Does pederasty
amongst males define homosexuality, and what are the barriers between the two? Again,
these questions can only be speculated, but warrant further discussion and
analysis.
By reconstructing the male gender and its social history in ancient
Greece, Stewart defines this ancient society and how it was dominated by the
rule of men. Worshipped and socially acceptable, the polis was restricted to adult
males where “[…] citizenship was a sexual and gendered concept as well as a
political and social one.”17 The adult male was seen as a “[…] whole and
bounded subject, and only his body was seen as sovereign, autonomous, and
inviolable.”18 The adult male was virtuously powerful in the Greek city; free to
do as he wished, the Greeks embraced this thought and continued to honour
the male as their ‘head’ of society. Consider the vase entitled Orgy (Fig. 7) by the
Pedius painter. The artist has depicted a sexual scene between Greek men and
women, where the women are sexually submissive to the men. Flexing their
socio-political rights, two men ravage a female subject back-to-front. The visual
description on the vase is appropriate because it situates the males in society as
dominant and powerful.19 Man was a hierarchical being in society and an active
figure that could have multiple affairs with others, including male youths.20
Stewart continues his study by analyzing male gender roles in ancient Greek
society.
For our discussion the most compelling of Stewart’s male gender
roles are the ‘active/passive’ and the ‘penetrator/penetrated.’ Considering these
roles as ratios between men and women, they were intended to place the male
‘citizen’ above all others on a sexual and socio-political scale. Penetration is a
typical male function during sex, but Stewart claims,
Relations between men, which have a material base, and which,
The Art Historical Male 97
thought hierarchical, establish or create interdependence and solidarity
among men that enable them to dominate women – and in the Greek
case, we may add, everyone else as well.21
Stewart implies that sex between two men, that is one adult and the other a
younger male, was a social norm in ancient Greece. Despite this manner, one
must consider this act as homosocial rather than homosexual. Defining what is
and what is not considered ‘homosexual’ is problematic especially in ancient
Greek culture. During the reign of the Spartan kingdom, Plutarch writes about
young boys who would leave the city with their elite male ‘lovers’; in Athens, a
sexual relationship between a boy and an adult male was considered acceptable
and also encouraged.22 Sparta embraced this theory because it was the relationship between a ‘man and boy’ which brought the male youths towards adulthood. Given its socio-political context, the example of Spartan homosociality
demonstrates the ethics of the polis, and how the ancient Greeks used the
younger males to prosper in society. Societal progression and prosperity was
anticipated if the boy had been loved, cared for and disciplined by his adult
male lover. The ‘youth’ is thus seen as a catalyst within society, whose object is
to assume citizenship of the polis.23
Historical evidence proves that ‘homosexual’ relationships between
two males existed and were accepted by Greek society; modern scholars must
be cautious not to confuse homosexuality with historical concepts of
homosociality because these ‘homosexual’ acts between two men of the same
age undermine the socio-political values of the Greek polis. Before comparing
the art-historical concepts of homosociality to Caravaggio’s youth paintings, it is
pertinent to study male homosocial interaction within the public sphere of the
Greek gymnasium.24 An ideal place for male social gathering and interaction,
whether recreational or sexual, the gymnasium was a place commonly noted for
displaying the purest forms of masculinity.25 Furthermore, Foucault’s History of
Sexuality explores this realm, the male body and its link to concepts of pederasty. Focusing on the works of Plato and Aristotle, Foucault frames ideal
masculinity and the prototype male. It is important to consider masculinity in
terms of desire, the body, and the socio-political mistreatment of the ‘effeminate’ male within the Greek polis. In addition, a short discourse between
historical and modern claims will also be made to challenge these theories and
allow the reader to differentiate between homosociality and homosexuality. It is
pertinent that the reader considers these historical concepts in contrast to
Caravaggio’s select youth paintings. Comprehending these terms, the reader will
then set precedence for Caravaggio’s works and frame the artistic discourse he
had explored in the late Italian cinquecento and early seicento.
98 Dan Byrne
II. The Image of Man: Foucault and the Male Gender
Foucault argues that sexual pleasure between two people, whether they
are the opposite or same sex, is not weighted differently. This pleasure is
“tolerant” and should not be “[…] assigned a lesser value, nor given a special
status.”26 He supports homosexuality, but he does not seclude it from heterosexuality. Both heterosexuality and homosexuality are equal and can be found as
equal variables of orientation in the history of the ancient Greek polis. As
discussed, Greek culture was acceptable to ‘homosexuality’, but it was seen in a
different context. Homosexuality, however, is a modern contemporary concept
and the ancient Greeks were not aware of this term, nor did they use it.
Scholars today can study the concepts of Greek homosociality to understand its
social context. According to Foucault,
The Greeks could not imagine a man might need a different nature—
an “other” nature—in order to love a man; but they were inclined to
think that the pleasures one enjoyed in such a relationship ought to be
given an ethical form different from the one that was required when it
came to loving a woman.27
What can be said about Foucault’s analysis is that although ‘homosexuality’ was
common amongst the Greeks, society continued to place an ethical basis on its
sexual activeness and importance. He is implying that Greek society had a set
of guidelines for dealing with what scholars now label ‘homosexuality.’ Returning to Stewart’s observations on the Greek polis, he claims, “A man who likes
being penetrated and is passive like a woman, he risks losing his citizen rights,
the rights of the free sovereign, active male.”28 Homosociality and homosexuality sometimes contradict one another, as demonstrated when comparing the
works and arguments of Foucault and Stewart. While Foucault argues that
desire for a man was no less than a desire for a woman, Stewart reinforces his
arguments of homosociality by clarifying the societal punishments a man would
receive if he was caught being penetrated. This exercise of comparing and
contrasting theories and arguments allows the reader to understand the paradox
of homosociality. Where it was common, acknowledged and accepted, Greek
society continued to restrict the sexual activity between two grown men, and
punish those who did not follow the law.29 Therefore, can one adequately
measure masculinity from these concepts? Let us consider Polykleitos’s
sculpture Doryphoros.
Ancient Greek notions of male dominance and sexuality were
reflective in the widely idealized and aestheticized male body.30 Young males
aspired to become members of the Greek polis, and those that failed to develop
The Art Historical Male 99
physically were thought to have been effeminate. The common signs of
effeminacy were lazy eyes, bent necks, underdeveloped and unaligned knees,
and delicate gestures.31 If a male was recognized with these physical abnormalities, he was immediately labelled an effeminate and in most cases was stripped
of his citizen rights. The ancient Greeks did not tolerate effeminate men; the
weaker the man, the weaker their society will become.32 The ‘prototype’ male
body, known as the hexis, was a shared belief by the Greeks that every part of
the body was proportioned without inconsistencies, and little to no deformities.33 The Doryphoros is an example of the ancient Greek masculine ideal.
Known also as the ‘spear bearer’, the Doryphoros epitomizes the Greek ideals of
masculinity and aesthetics of male beauty. A roman copy, the Doryphoros now
stands incomplete without his spear; however, viewers can still gain a sense of
the artist’s intended physical aesthetic. In ancient Greek culture, the prototype
male was to be completely symmetric, whose posture was,
[…] intermediate between rest and movement; “suitable both for war
and athletics,” its physique fell midway between the thin and the fat; a
“virile youth”, it stood on the brink of manhood.34
Thus, the Doryphoros intermediates boyhood and manhood. His physique is
athletic, but also virile enough to fight in war. Composed and structured
mathematically, the Greeks settled for nothing less than “[…] meticulous
accuracy of detail.”35 Like Leonardo da Vinci’s The Vitruvian Man (Fig. 8), the
Doryphoros represents physical harmony and from this, encompassing the ideal
form of male beauty and masculinity. Like Leonardo’s drawing of the cinquecento,
the Doryphoros is also a symbol of intellectual stamina, power, and virtue. In
comparison to The Vitruvian Man, the Doryphoros displays perfect proportion,
which Stewart claims is equated with the power of the intellectual mind.36
Connecting the mind and body, the Greeks believed that an effeminate individual with physical awkwardness also affected the regular functions of
the mind, such as perception. In The Image of Man: the Creation of Modern
Masculinity, George Mosse outlines these physical discrepancies. He states,
“Physical awkwardness, weakness of nerves, and ill health in a person mean that
his awareness of world is distorted because it is transmitted from the body to
the mind.”37 If masculinity was measured by physical beauty and the state of
one’s mind, how did these concepts redevelop during the Italian seicento?
Describing Caravaggio’s Il Bacchino Malato or the Little Bacchus (Fig. 9), Alfred
Moir illicitly prescribes to Posner’s idea that Caravaggio’s youth paintings
represent the effeminate and display an intrinsic ‘homo-erotic’ appeal.
Comparing Caravaggio’s Il Bacchino Malato to that of a woman, Moir
describes the painting as,
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‘[A] young woman with curly hair artificially styled…and almost nude’
corresponds almost as well, apart from the change of sex [of the
model], which may have been deliberately provocative. Probably the
image is a composite, a kind of masquerade costume-portrait in which
he has wittily transmuted his [Caravaggio] own carnality into a kind of
living symbol.38
Caravaggio’s painting of the Il Bacchino Malato, is also sometimes thought to be a
self-portrait and acquires its name from the sickly green palette the artist has
chosen. Where Moir states the painting is ‘provocative,’ it can be argued that
Caravaggio was simply using the figure’s attentive gaze as a gesture to advise the
viewer that the Il Bacchino Malato is indeed looking at his reflection. When
compared to Stewart’s visual description of the ideal male in Greek society,
Caravaggio’s Il Bacchino Malato would most likely fall under the category of an
effeminate, but in its art-historical context it may also be described as the
infamous ‘boy in the making.’
When observing the Il Bacchino Malato, the viewer may recognize two
significant flaws in modern claims versus historical concepts of homosociality.
The first, visual descriptions such as the Il Bacchino Malato create a certain
dichotomy. Although ancient homosociality would label this figure as effeminate or simply a developing male, modern scholars like Moir, tend to fraternize
with erotic ideals and label such works as sexually charged, or purposeful of the
artist. Moir takes Caravaggio’s painting out of its historical context and asserts it
as ‘homo-erotic.’ The second flaw is obvious. Some scholars, such as Posner,
tend to manipulate historical evidence to suit their claims. In regards to the Il
Bacchino Malato, Moir recognizes this as a self-portrait of Caravaggio, and
because of this, this painting is automatically rendered as ‘homo-erotic.’
Homosexuality and homosociality should not be confused and what Moir has
done is exactly this. Caravaggio’s painting may be a weaker male who is developing.39 What Caravaggio has painted is the figure’s coming of age and maturity;
as well, this figure is aware of himself and his surroundings, suggesting his
development into masculinity. Although this argument might be considered
abstract, it can be used to support an exercise of questioning or interrogating
contemporary and historical claims. After all, this thesis is structured on
challenging modern claims and placing Caravaggio’s youth paintings in their arthistorical contexts.
III. Homosexuality and Pederasty: Classical Ethics and the Subordinated
Youth
The final thought to consider for our argument is pederasty and
The Art Historical Male 101
homosexuality; how do they differ and how did the ancient Greeks, including
Classical Rome, deal with these conventions? In the works of Plato, Aristotle
and Petronius, these ancient authors illustrate the discourses between
homosociality and homosexuality. Likewise, Foucault looks deeper into the
ancient world by exposing the famous relationship between the erastes and
eromenos within the Greek gymnasium. Concepts of pederasty and homosexuality are also discussed in Craig A. Williams’s Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of
Masculinity in Classical Antiquity. Williams provides his readers with an insight into
classical society; he addresses how imperial Rome dealt with pederasty and
homosexuality, and how these concepts were similar to those in the Greek polis.
Stewart, as well as Foucault, explains the roles of the erastes and the
eromenos, where the erastes is the youthful male and the eromenos the adult male.
Situated in the gymnasium, which was better known as a Greek ‘school,’ both
the erastes and the eromenos could publicly engage in sexual acts; as well, individuals would go to the gym simply to socialize, thus defining a clearer sense of
ancient homosocialism. Analyzing the vase entitled Youths courting boys (Fig. 10),
Stewart argues that this visual description of male interaction epitomizes
homosocial engagement.40 The contemporary title given to this vase is also an
interesting aspect of the work. By ‘courting,’ the eromenos almost seduces the
erastes, aware of the eromenos rule over the male youth in the Greek polis. In the
book of “Aristophanes” of Plato’s Symposium, Plato writes about courting
between Socrates and the younger Strepsiades. Commanding the youth to
follow protocol and common manners in the presence of an elder, Strepsiades
removes his cloak. Socrates says, “[…] it is customary for those who enter the
phrontisterion to be naked…”41 Suggesting a sexual relationship between him
and the youth, Socrates is seen as Strepsiades’s eromenos. What is evident is that
both Plato and Socrates appear to agree upon the symbolism of pederasty.42
Thus, pederasty is not entirely about sex or what today’s reader would term as
‘sexual abuse.’ Rather, pederasty is a homosocial engagement between two
males, which exemplifies societal conducts of manner and protocol between
youths and elders. Plato demonstrates the order of the Greek polis very clearly.
The adult male is placed above all others and his ‘word’ is generated by the god
of love and sex, Eros.43
Both Plato and Socrates discuss social concepts of pederasty, but the
“Erotic Essay,” which is attributed to Demosthenes within Plato’s Symposium,
cautions readers that although pederasty may be a societal norm, it can also be
regarded as shameful. Demosthenes writes, “Love relations with a boy are not
absolutely either honourable or shameful but for the most part vary according
to the persons concerned.”44 What Demosthenes proposes is an antithesis to
Plato and Socrates. Where Plato and Socrates believe the ‘cosmos’ revolve
102 Dan Byrne
around the adult male and Eros, Demosthenes argues that only those who
engage in ‘homosexual’ activity can define pederasty. Under the Greek polis,
Demosthenes’ idea perpetuates the theory of the male ‘citizen’ and courting.
Since the adult male may penetrate who he wishes, female or male, pederasty is
under a selective prerogative. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle teaches, “[…]
all men enjoy in some way or another both savoury foods and wines and sexual
intercourse, but not all men do as they ought.”45 It seems that for these writers,
homosociality can be defined in multiple ways.
In conjunction with Plato and Aristotle, scholars are given a broad
array of opinions and theories regarding pederasty and homosexuality. The
borderline between pederasty and homosexuality is unclear, ambiguous, and
almost non-existent; contrasting claims by those such as Gilbert and Posner
only deter the reader from truly understanding the mediums between
homosociality, pederasty, and homosexuality. In Plato’s Republic, Socrates
questions his pupil Glaucon: “Can you name any pleasure that is greater and
more volatile than sexual passion?”46 Glaucon answers faithfully that he cannot
and Socrates redeems him for understanding the ethics of pleasure. What
seems apparent is the topic of male sexuality, pleasure, and desire amongst the
Greek philosophers.47 Differentiating between the multiple theories of pederasty and homosexuality is what challenges the modern scholar, and it is up to
these scholars to define which thesis is supportable. Debating this argument
might seem tedious, but a final attempt can be made by analyzing Petronius’s
Satyricon.
Based in imperial Rome, the Satyricon condemns societal offences but
not necessarily poor judgment and lack of morals.48 Petronius’s writings in the
book seem hedonistic where his speakers act out of strict pleasure and sexual
desire.49 In the account of Gilton, Petronius writes about a young boy who
assumes the role of a woman in society. Petronius writes,
[…] he played the woman’s role in the slave’s quarters, and when he
ran out of money he switched the direction of his sexual favours. He
has renounced the claims of an old friendship; to his shame, he has
behaved like a common whore, and sold his all in a one night stand.50
Romans led a decadent lifestyle and in this lifestyle, prostitution was on rise in
the classical city.51 As early as 52 B.C., Roman ‘freemen,’ the equivalent of the
adult male in the Greek polis, were paying for prostitutes. Valerius Maximus, a
Roman official and author, writes on an event where a Roman freeman set up a
brothel and sold two women of higher pedigree, and a small boy.52 Like the boy
Gilton describes in the Satyricon, Williams matches this story to demonstrate
how young boys were also desired in Roman society as they were in the Greek
The Art Historical Male 103
polis. Whether or not this was an accepted form of Roman homosociality, it is
evident that the erastes and eromenos idea was prevalent in imperial Rome.
Considering this idea, can male prostitution in imperial Rome be equated with
homosocial pederasty as practiced in ancient Greece? If these were acts of
masculine display, it seems the Romans took pederasty and homosexuality to a
higher level of practice than the Greeks had. Williams continues,
By contrast, men who willingly played the receptive role in penetrative
acts were imagined thereby to have abrogated their masculine privilege, to have assimilated themselves to the inferior status of women
and were thus liable to ridicule and scorn.53
Key to this reference is the use of the word ‘men’. If men allowed themselves
to be sodomized by another, they were stripped of their free rights in imperial
Rome. Invoking the erastes and eromenos complex, Williams bridges the two
societies of Rome and Greece, demonstrating a homosocial parallel in history.54
This discussion thus far has analyzed the history and progression of
homosociality from the ancient Greeks up to imperial Rome. Although several
arguments have been proposed, homosociality remains to be clearly defined due
to the varying views and ideas of modern scholars, in addition to those of the
ancients such as Plato and Aristotle. I have challenged modern claims to gain a
deeper understanding of their arguments. Authors such as Stewart and Foucault
make compelling arguments in their works and appropriately reiterate the
development of male homosociality through ancient Greco-Roman history.
Emphasis on masculinity and how its concepts were defined under the Greek
polis have been questioned, presenting an ongoing paradox for readers. Although homosociality and the platonic relationships between two men were
recognized and accepted within ancient Greece and Rome, these societies
overlooked homosexuality and gave the male citizen superiority over female,
youth, and slave subjects. Despite the shortcomings of extant studies on
homosociality, many scholars continue to speculate on these ancient ideas of
masculinity from a modern perspective; however, the reader should be cautious
when studying modern conceptions of past, potentially anachronistic, concepts.
Modern scholars tend to manipulate historical evidence, either
consciously or unconsciously, to prove or support their arguments. As discussed, Gilbert recognized Posner’s error, making Posner’s arguments on
Caravaggio seem incoherent and methodologically unsound. One must not
confuse homosociality with homosexuality, as homosexuality defuses the
platonic essence of homosociality. If the reader can separate these views and
comprehend them as individual social ‘labels,’ then Caravaggio’s youth paintings
can be redefined as a representation of male beauty and masculinity.55 Shifting
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away from antiquity, let us look at Caravaggio’s paintings in their art-historical
context of the Italian seicento. Briefly surveying the earliest periods of the Italian
quattrocento to the early seicento, Caravaggio’s youth paintings can be placed into a
variety of contexts such as visualizations of music and the liberal arts. I will
shed new light on his paintings, surpassing Posner’s claims that Caravaggio’s
paintings are simply ‘homo-erotic.’ The works of major scholars such as Adrian
Randolph, James Saslow, and Friedlander will be analyzed in comparison with
selections of Caravaggio’s youth paintings.
IV. Caravaggio and Neoplatonism: From Political to the Divine
Quattrocento Neoplatonism is essential to understanding Caravaggio’s
youth paintings as a direct break from the art-historical representation of the
male within the Italian Renaissance. Originating in Florence, Neoplatonism was
adopted by the Medici family and eventually spread throughout Italy.56
Caravaggio was plausibly aware of these philosophies, due to the rise of literacy
and the dissemination of early-Modern scholarship. Desmond Seward speculates that Caravaggio,
[…] was far from ignorant of the classics, probably better read[s],
better educated than we realize…His friends were not uncultivated,
including two poets, the Cavaliere Marino and Aurelio Orsi…His
paintings indicate at least a smattering of classical learning.57
It is no surprise that Caravaggio was in fact quite educated in the classics; he
surrounded himself with wealthy patrons such as Cardinal Francesco Del
Monte and other learned men of the cinquecento-seicento such as Vincenzo
Giustiniani.58 Given Caravaggio’s supposed erudition, he was likely influenced
by the ideals of the Neoplatonic movement.
Neoplatonism is a theocentric philosophy that emphasizes the
‘individual’ as capable of transcendence and attaining divine knowledge. The
humanist philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) was a great proponent of
Neoplatonism, holding that the ‘One’ or God is the ultimate reality from which
all intuitive knowledge emanates.59 Since everything, including the soul, is a
creation of God, the soul is capable of ascension and eventually leaves the
body to be with God. Beauty is also an important aspect of Neoplatonism. God
is perfect and all reality is an “emotion” of God; hence, by the process of
deduction, everything is beautiful or perfect, including the human soul.60
Although scholars such as Ficino’s first biographer Giovanni Corsi likely
regarded Neoplatonism as a political vehicle for the elevation of the Medici in
Florence,61 the widespread acceptance of Neoplatonism across the Italian states
up to and after Caravaggio’s death upholds its status as a credible philosophy.62
The Art Historical Male 105
In addition, Randolph’s study Engaging Symbols: Gender, Politics, and Public Art in
Fifteenth-Century Florence, examines Donatello’s David (Fig. 12) and links this work
with quattrocento Neoplatonism and the history of homosociality. Although
Donatello’s David serves as a visual personification of the glory of Florence,
Caravaggio’s works, such as the Amor Victor, are detached from these political
ideals. His works are more than political or homosocial; they are portrayals of
ideal male beauty and masculinity that represent an “emotion” of God.
Like Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes (Fig. 13), Donatello uses
the figure of David as a political personification for the Florentine state.63 In his
discussion of ‘Homosocial Desire’, Randolph focuses more on the head of
Goliath than on the slender and youthful body of David. Randolph claims that
Goliath’s face seems content, almost indolent.64 If Donatello intended for
Goliath to appear sleeping, what can be said about its socio-political context?
There are two possibilities: the indolent face of Goliath represents homosocial
desire for the David who dominates and triumphs, or it is a political personification of the peaceful reign of the Medici in Florence. Although these are
analytical observations, Randolph’s claim that Donatello’s David is representative of homosocial desire seems rather abstract given its original patrons and
purposes. Furthermore, consider Christopher Fulton’s discussion of male
representation in “The Boy Stripped Bare by His Elders: Art and Adolescence
in Renaissance Florence.”
Fulton makes critical claims on the representation of male nudes in
the milieu of the Italian quattrocento. Since Donatello’s David is dated fifty years
before the turn of the century, it is permissible to predate Fulton’s conclusions
on nudity and Medicean rule in Florence. Fulton begins,
In the milieu of fifteenth-century Florence depictions of adolescent
males were self-consciously employed in the training and socialization
of youth. What makes the heuristic art of this period especially
intriguing, and even paradoxical, is its frequent homoeroticization of
the young male subject. 65
A common misconception, Fulton explains how naked youths are over analyzed
and taken out of their historical contexts. For example, let us return to
Caravaggio’s Amor Victor. The victorious cupid is depicted naked and surrounded by ‘vanitas’ objects, perhaps a northern influence on Caravaggio’s style.
Although some scholars may claim the Amor Victor is a ‘homo-erotic’ depiction,
the painting can properly be described as a “[…] metonymy of desire—as a
metonymy that is desire—for profane, worldly objects”.66 The same concept
can be applied to Donatello’s David. What Fulton is trying to achieve is a new
understanding of the David. He states: “[…] it would simply be unthinkable for
106 Dan Byrne
a prominent Florentine to place in the midst of his family home [the Medici
court] a large statue proclaiming homosexual desires”.67 Fulton’s argument is
well supported because he does not take the David out of its historical context.
As it was originally meant for the publicly accessible courtyard of the Medici
palace, it would seem unlawful for a family of their calibre to place an obviously
homo-erotic sculpture in their open courtyard. Florence was a strict Italian
state, and neither the public nor its leading family would tolerate a work of this
kind, especially shown in public.68 Therefore, scholars should view Donatello’s
David as a Neoplatonic triumph of the individual and in a broader perspective,
a personification of the Florentine city-state. Likewise, Caravaggio’s Amor Victor
transcends a mere homo-erotic representation, to a sophisticated, dignified, and
even spiritual classification of the youthful male. Amor Victor is an “emotion”
of God, where everything perfect and beautiful emanates. Given these contexts
and histories, one can begin to redefine Caravaggio’s youth paintings and place
them into appropriate subject genres.
V. Caravaggio’s Musical Genre: Homosexuality in Question
Caravaggio’s youth paintings can be grouped by genre. One of the
most significant of these genres is music and how Caravaggio entices his
viewers with the sensual quality of sight and sound. Consider Caravaggio’s
Concert (Fig. 14) and the Hermitage Lutenist. Each painting depicts a male
subject engaged in, or about to begin playing an instrument. In the Concert, the
viewer is presented with four equally beautiful males. Caught in the middle of
their rehearsal, Caravaggio has placed them accordingly to appear as if they
were casually playing their instruments. The central figure of Caravaggio’s
painting calls attention to Plato’s idea of musical desire in the Republic: in the
dialogue Socrates asks Glaucon, “But is it not the nature of genuine love to
desire an orderly and beautiful object in a moderate and musical way?”69 Tuning
his instrument, Caravaggio’s figure engages with the viewer as if he is inviting
the individual to stop and listen to his concert. Howard Hibbard describes the
painting of the Concert as follows: “The costumes, the nudity, and Cupid all
point to an erotic, pseudoclassical ambition…”70 Both gaze and gesture lures
the viewer into the Concert, and Hibbard notes it is in this sense that an erotic
essence is evident in the composition. Caravaggio has also dressed the figures in
antique garments, which Hibbard uses to support his description of the
painting as a perversion. By placing a cupid in the background of the Concert,
Caravaggio has reversed the genders of his subjects. Instead of placing Cupid
within a group of males, some Renaissance paintings render him surrounded by
three female figures, symbolizing music and the graces.71 Caravaggio’s musicians
are androgynous, thus the painting can be viewed in a homosocial context. The
The Art Historical Male 107
males are depicted in a non-sexual act; they are harmoniously joined together
through music. Perhaps then, Caravaggio’s Concert epitomizes the concepts of
Neoplatonism in relation to homosociality. As an “emotion” of God, the young
male figures, both virtuous and beautiful, synchronize to create an ideal musical
atmosphere that transcends the soul to the divine. Although they are indeed
androgynous, it seems Caravaggio has depicted these youthful figures in order
to capture the attention of both male and female viewers. As noted, Del Monte
was fond of dressing youthful males in women’s garments, which may be a
significant aspect of this painting. Thus, Caravaggio’s Concert can be characterized as a binary of Neoplatonic and homosocial philosophy.
Caravaggio has likewise followed this discourse of male representation
in the Hermitage Lutenist. The Lutenist is unmistakably androgynous, which
some scholars claim was his intended aesthetic for the painting. In the article
“The Castrato Singer: From Informal to Formal Portraiture,” Franca Trinchieri
Camiz proposes that the Lutenist is a castrato singer.72 Notorious for their
androgynous appearances due to castration, the castrato singer is often equated
with homosexuality.73 The Hermitage Lutenist was commissioned by Cardinal
Del Monte, which may suggest the Cardinal was a homosexual.74 After all,
Cardinal Del Monte was known for hosting banquets “[…] where, as there were
no ladies present, the dancing was done by boys dressed up as girls.”75 No
concrete evidence has been found to date to support the theory that Del Monte
was indeed a homosexual. It is possible that the Cardinal simply enjoyed being
around younger men, and was charmed by their music.76 Like the Greek erastes
and eromenos, Del Monte could have shared a platonic relationship with the
dancers. Del Monte was also quite popular within the musical arts in Rome.
After 1620 he was even made the vice pretettore of the Capella Sistina (papal
choir).77 Although Caravaggio’s youths appear androgynous in comparison with
ancient Greek depictions of the male such as the Doryphoros, they can also be
seen as virtuous, beautiful and young developing men. This conception is also
relevant for Caravaggio’s Amor Victor. In depicting his youths as sexually
ambiguous and androgynous, Caravaggio clearly cultivated this form of male
representation.78
VI. Amor Victor: An Alchemical Ganymede?
James Saslow’s exploration of the visual evolution of Ganymede and the
broader concepts of androgyny and hermaphroditism, in his Ganymede in the
Renaissance: Homosexuality in Art and Society, help place Caravaggio’s Bacchus and
Amor Victor in a more cohesive art-historical context. In Michelangelo’s drawing
of the Rape of Ganymede (Fig. 15), Saslow describes the young boy as: “[…]
heavily muscled, light haired Ganymede swoons as he is carried aloft by Jupiter
108 Dan Byrne
in the form of an eagle. The enormous bird grasps the youth’s chest in a
gesture at once touchingly protective and aggressively thrusting.”79 As
Ganymede is commonly attributed to themes of homosexuality in the Renaissance, Saslow expands these claims and typifies Ganymede as a representative
for a newer form of masculinity and sexual desire. When translated from
Greek, Ganymede means “to enjoy” and “intelligence.”80 Saslow combines the
two meanings and re-interprets the figure as a Neoplatonic being who can be
recognized as both intelligent and a classical restored icon of the latter Italian
Renaissance. In this process, Andrea Alciati’s sixteenth century book Emblemata,
labels Ganymede as desidero verso Iddio (yearning toward God).81 By yearning
toward God, Ganymede, although commonly interpreted as a homosexual
figure, unites with God. James Saslow continues to explore androgyny,
Neoplatonism, and concludes with a discussion of Leonardo da Vinci and the
alchemical hermaphrodite.
Leonardo da Vinci was an idealist and sought to transcend sexuality
through alchemy.82 As an alchemist, Leonardo researched the concepts of
gender and sought to discover the middle gender, also known as the hermaphrodite.83 Although Renaissance mysticism does not hold a place for an alchemical Ganymede, he can still be understood through an alchemical interpretation:
“his hermaphroditic [androgynous] beauty and his uplifting by the eagle, a bird
vested with multiple alchemical significance”.84 Consider the Crowned Hermaphrodite (Fig. 16). The figure is made up of a man and woman, a hybrid of both
genders.85 Possessing both masculinity and femininity this figure could also
represent unity, fertility and virtue.
Can these same concepts explain Caravaggio’s Amor Victor?
Friedlander’s 1955 study Caravaggio describes the artist’s Amor Victor as a
virtuous male youth. When compared to Michelangelo’s statue of Victory (Fig.
17), however, Caravaggio’s Amor Victor does not appear nearly as athletic as the
ancient Doryphoros. Caravaggio’s youthful cupid smiles directly at the viewer and
playfully lifts his legs to reveal more of his body.86 As discussed with the
Doryphoros, masculinity was measured by the Greek aesthetic of the male body
and mind. If the body was distorted or deformed, that individual would be
regarded as an effeminate and risk the chance of losing his citizenship from the
Greek polis. Ignoring this factor, Caravaggio uses the figure of a young, effeminate male for the Amor Victor. Surrounding Caravaggio’s cupid are objects of
vanity such as geometry tools, music sheets, and various objects that signify the
“intellectual world”.87 Musical objects include the Cremonese violin and the
Quadrivium.88 Triumphant over the “active life,” the “military life,” and the
“intellectual life,” Caravaggio’s cupid is thus a friend of the arts, as well as a
personification of the union between the arts and sciences. Like the Crowned
The Art Historical Male 109
Hermaphrodite, the Amor Victor unites the two faculties of study, victorious over
all ‘earthly things’ alchemical.
VII. Issues in the Art-Historical Method: Caravaggio and Today’s Reader
When studying Caravaggio’s youths, it is essential that the reader place
his works in their art-historical context. The juxtaposition of modern and
historical scholarship provides insight into the intention and inspiration behind
his work. Scholars are left with no affirmative evidence that Caravaggio, his
models, or his patrons were in fact homosexual. Placing Caravaggio’s youth
paintings within the context of the evolving notion of homosociality, from its
origins in ancient Greece and Imperial Rome through to its role in earlyseventeenth century Italian culture, provides an alternate perspective on his
work. It further challenges the reader to analyze what is and what is not
homosocial, distinguishing this concept from the homosexual. Breaking with
Renaissance conventions of masculinity, inherited by the ancient Greeks,
Caravaggio’s youth paintings can be seen as visual re-conceptualizations of
masculinity and homosociality. Did the earlier forms of male representation influence
Caravaggio, or did he generate an entirely new image of the male youth? While these
questions cannot be concretely answered, they provoke us to depart from both
historical and contemporary scholarship on the artist, and critically re-evaluate
the historiography of Caravaggio’s youth paintings.
Notes
1
This essay will use the term ‘Art-Historical Male’ to circumvent male representation in the visual arts in regards to concepts of homosociality, homosexuality,
and masculinity. Likewise, these art-historical concepts will be applied to
Caravaggio’s youth paintings.
2
Walter Friedlander, Caravaggio Studies (New York: Shocken Books, 1969), 235.
3
Michael Kitson, The Complete Paintings of Caravaggio (New York: Harry N.
Abrams, Inc., 1967), 7.
4
Published in 1971, Donald Posner has been the last scholar until the present
time to fully claim that Caravaggio’s youth paintings are ‘homo-erotic.’
5
Donald Posner, “Caravaggio’s Homo-erotic Early Works,” in Homosexuality and
Homosexuals in the Arts, Volume IV, ed. Stephen Donaldson and Wayne R. Dynes
(New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1992), 112.
6
Ibid, 112.
7
“Posner’s incomplete quotation in which he is ‘observing… the boys playing’
(rather than observing the poses they got into while playing) does heighten the
110 Dan Byrne
implication [that Caravaggio was a homosexual].” Creighton E. Gilbert,
Caravaggio and his Two Cardinals (Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State UP, 1995), 193.
8
Ibid, 195.
9
“Earlier in 1603, Tommaso Salini gave court testimony in which he mentioned
a certain Giovanni Battista, whom he described as a bardassa shared by
Caravaggio and his friend Onorio Longhi.” Posner, 112.
10
Supplementary literary works and parenthetical citations will not compare to
Caravaggio’s works, but demonstrate the dynamics between the visual and
literary arts.
11
James M. Saslow, Ganymede in the Renaissance: Homosexuality in Art and Society
(New Haven: Yale UP, 1986), 200.
12
“[Renaissance Neoplatonism] can be defined as the quattrocento philosophical school originated by the philosophy and religious ideas of Marsilio Ficino.
He was extremely moved by Plotinus’ mystical philosophy, and he combined his
new and original ideas with Neoplatonic metaphysics and Augustinian theology.” Liana Cheney, Quattrocento Neoplatonism and Medici Humanism in Botticelli’s
Mythological Paintings (New York: University Press of America Inc., 1985), 20-1.
13
Working away from modern claims that Caravaggio’s works are only ‘homoerotic’ depictions painted by an artist of homosexual inclinations.
14
Friedlander, 92.
15
The root concept is simply the non-sexual relationships between two members of the same sex.
16
I use the term ‘modern’ to refer to the seventeenth century and the rise of
Modernism in Europe.
17
“[…] independent city-state or polis: the “Greek men’s club,” as French
scholars aptly call it.” Andrew Stewart, Art, Desire, and the Body in ancient Greece
(New York: Cambridge UP, 1997), 8.
18
Ibid, 8.
19
“[…] Greek men thought of themselves as the first, privileged member of a
set of antimonies: Greek/barbarian, male/female, free/slave, human/animal.”
Ibid, 9.
20
Michel Foucault. The History of Sexuality Volume 2: The Use of Pleasure (New
York: Vintage Books, 1990), 46.
21
Stewart, 10.
22
Eva Cantarella, Bisexuality in the Ancient World (New Haven: Yale UP, 1992), 7,
17.
23
‘Catalyst’: the youthful male as a catalyst under the context of causing men to
desire him. Through his relationship with adult males, the youth matures and
precipitates change from a boy to a polis citizen.
24
On the origin of the Gymnasium, see Louis Crompton, Homosexuality and
The Art Historical Male 111
Civilization (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2003), 10.
25
“[…] Greek gymnasium where gymnastic exercises demonstrate the many
contours and sublime beauty of the naked male body.” George L. Mosse, The
Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity (New York: Oxford UP, 1996),
40.
26
Foucault, 192.
27
Foucault, 192.
28
Stewart, 11.
29
Social punishment took the form of alienation from society; men were
shamed and stripped of their freeman ‘citizen’ rights.
30
For a thorough discussion on ancient Greek sculptural aesthetics, as codified
in Polykleitos’s Kanon, see Jordan Jerome Pollitt, Art In the Hellenistic Age
(Cambridge UP, 2006).
31
Stewart, 11.
32
“Within this framework, boys and slaves were once again essentially
unproblematic. The former were simply men in the making…” Ibid, 11.
33
Ibid, 11.
34
Ibid, 88.
35
Ibid, 88.
36
Ibid, 11.
37
Mosse, 41.
38
Young woman as Lussuria. Alfred Moir, Caravaggio (New York: Harry and
Abrams, Inc., 1989), 50.
39
“Baglione reported that after leaving D’Arpino’s studio, Caravaggio [aged
twenty] was too impoverished to hire models, so he painted several mirrorimage self-portraits.” Ibid, 50.
40
See ‘cloak wearing’ in Stewart, 157.
41
Plato, The Symposium, ed. Stanley Rosen (New Haven: Yale UP, 1968), 124.
42
Ibid, 125.
43
Donald Levy, “The Definition of Love in Plato’s Symposium,” Journal of the
History of Ideas 40, 2 (1979): 285.
44
Foucault, 59.
45
Ibid, 52.
46
Plato, The Republic, ed. Andrea Tschemplik (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield
Publishers, Inc., 2005.), 113.
47
For philosophies on pleasure, see Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, trans.
David Ross (New York: Oxford UP, 1998), 254.
48
Crompton, 101.
49
“ […] So I relieved his anxiety, and immersed myself in the exploration of his
whole body, but without indulging in the final pleasure [sodomy].” Petronius,
112 Dan Byrne
The Satyricon, trans. P.G. Walsh (New York: Oxford UP, 1997), 73.
50
Ibid, 69-70.
51
Consider Thomas Couture’s Les Romans de la décadence (1847) [Fig. 11]. Figures
participate in sexual activities; Couture has also depicted two men kissing,
perhaps a statement on ‘free love’ and the Roman equivalent to the Greek polis.
52
Craig A. Williams, Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical
Antiquity (New York: Oxford UP, 1999), 40.
53
Ibid, 18.
54
For courtship and conduct, see Foucault, 196-7.
55
Homosociality and homosexuality are gender constructs, or ‘labels,’ of
modern contemporary society.
56
For the history and spread of Medicean Humanism and Neoplatonism, see
Mark Jurdjevic, “Civic Humanism and the Rise of the Medici,” Renaissance
Quarterly 52, 4 (1992): 994-1020.
57
John F. Moffitt, “Caravaggio’s Emblematic and Gender-Bending ‘Lute Player’
as ‘Bassus,’” in Caravaggio in Context: Learned Naturalism and Renaissance Humanism
(North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc., 2004), 165.
58
For a detailed biography of Cardinal Francesco Del Monte, see Francis
Haskell, Patrons and Painters: A Study in the Relations Between Italian Art and Society in
the Age of the Baroque (New Haven: Yale UP, 1980), 29; “Vincenzo Giustiniani is
the author of the Discorso sopra la musica (1628), and important practical handbook which informed educated patrician gentlemen like himself about musical
tastes and fashions of the period.” Franca Trinchieri Camiz, “The Castrato
Singer: From Informal to Formal Portraiture,” Artibus et Historiae 9, 18 (1988):
171.
59
Cheney, 20.
60
Ibid, 20.
61
“[…] Ficino’s work of recovering and disseminating Platonism was held to be
one of the great achievements of Medici patronage.” James Hankins, “The
Myth of the Platonic Academy of Florence,” Renaissance Quarterly 44, 3 (1991):
429.
62
Ibid, 430.
63
For Donatello’s David as a political statue, see Randolph, Adrian W.B. Engaging
Symbols: Gender, Politics, and Public Art in Fifteenth- Century Florence (New Haven:
Yale UP, 2002), 140.
64
Ibid, 144.
65
Christopher Fulton, “The Boy Stripped Bare by His Elders: Art and Adolescence in Renaissance Florence,” Art Journal 56, 2 (1997): 31.
66
Graham L. Hammill, Sexuality and Form: Caravaggio, Marlowe, and Bacon
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Ltd., 2000), 86.
The Art Historical Male 113
67
Fulton, 35.
See Florence and sodomy in Michael Rocke, “Forbidden Friendships:
Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence,” Studies in the History
of Sexuality (1998): 10 March 2007, 4.
69
Plato, The Republic, 113.
70
Howard Hibbard, Caravaggio (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1983),
33.
71
Ibid, 33.
72
“The practice of cross-sexual casting as seen in the Italian baroque opera
assumes that the audience will not be disturbed by contradictions between the
sexual identity of the character being portrayed and either the actual gender of
the performer or the voice register of the musical part.” Roger Freitas, “The
Eroticism of Emasculation: Confronting the Baroque Body of the Castrato,”
The Journal of Musicology 20, 2 (2003): 197.
73
Hibbard, 35; “Testosterone-deprived castrati remained beardless while their
hair was luxuriant. Their bodies, in turn, were often characterized by subcutaneous fat localized in the hips, thighs, and face”. John Varriano, Caravaggio: The Art
of Realism (Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State UP, 2006), 59.
74
Camiz, 172.
75
Haskell, 29.
76
“’Tis good; though music oft hath such a charm/ To make bad good, and
good provoke to harm” (IV.i.14-15) – Shakespeare. “Measure for Measure” in
The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works Second Edition (New York: Oxford UP,
2005), 860.
77
Camiz, 171-2; the Spanish castrato singer, Pietro Montoya also stayed in the
Del Monte residence around c.1592-1600, where he may have been practicing
under Del Monte, demonstrating the Cardinal’s devotion to his male accomplices.
78
Although it is not proven that Caravaggio had a taste for this form of male
representation, it is plausible to argue that it was his patrons’ demands, which
led Caravaggio to depict such androgynous male youths.
79
Saslow, 19.
80
“[…] Plato believed the myth of Ganymede to have been invented by the
Cretans in order to justify amorous relations between men and boys or adolescents…” Ibid, 22.
81
Ibid, 23.
82
Ibid, 90.
83
Hermaphrodite: the child of Hermes and Aphrodite. Ibid, 77.
84
Ibid, 91.
85
“ [The] Rosarium philosophorum depict[s] this harmonious and blissful fusion of
68
114 Dan Byrne
crowned male and female principles as a sexual embrace, and the ideal resulting
from this eroticized melding as a two headed, crowned hermaphrodite with one
parti-coloured body and two arms and legs”. Ibid, 92.
86
“Amor gilds and sharpens his arrows’ play/ not blind, with quiver I see him
arrive; / Naked, except where shame does not reveal; / A boy with wings; not
painted but alive” – Petrarch; Varriano, 65.
87
Friedlander, 92.
88
“[…] music, geometry, and astronomy. Only arithmetic appears to be
missing.” Ibid, 93.
The Art Historical Male 115
1 Caravaggio. Fruit Vendor. 1593-94. Borghese Gallery, Rome. (photo: Moir,
Alfred. Caravaggio [New York: Harry and Abrams, Inc., 1989.], 47.)
2 Caravaggio. Lutenist or Lute Player, c. 1596, Hermitage, St. Petersburg (photo:
Varriano, John. Caravaggio: The Art of Realism [Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State
UP, 2006.], x.)
116 Dan Byrne
3 Caravaggio. Bacchus, 1596, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence (photo: Varriano,
John. Caravaggio: The Art of Realism [Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State UP, 2006.],
ix.)
4 Caravaggio. Amor Victor or Victorious Love, 1601-03, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
(photo: Varriano, John. Caravaggio: The Art of Realism [Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State UP, 2006.], ix.)
The Art Historical Male 117
5 Caravaggio. Il Bacchino Malato, 1593-94, Galleria Borghese, Rome (photo:
Varriano, John. Caravaggio: The Art of Realism [Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State
UP, 2006.], ix.)
6 Caravaggio. Concert or Musicians, 1596, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York (photo: Varriano, John. Caravaggio: The Art of Realism [Pennsylvania:
Pennsylvania State UP, 2006.], ix.)