I have long since forgotten how to write art history essays, the way I was taught in high school but I felt that I had a couple of paintings I felt I had to comment on and make some comments on. These paintings being Fallen Angel by Alexandre Cabanel, a DDR properganda poster, Saint Sebastian №1 by Oscar Magnan and the various ignudi painted by Michelangelo onto the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling.
So this, instead of a sophisticated ‘big brain’ essay will be a wander and a gander at these four artworks. And even though all these paintings are from many different time periods, they all communicate one thing: homo-eroticism and it’s inescapability as an artistic motif.
PART ONE
Michelangelo’s Ignudi
The first of these was commissioned by Pope Julius II and part of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling paintings which were painted during 1508 and 1512. And one thing that is evident is the idealised male form. That being the sculpture-like musculature which was clearly very idealised and masculine, even when the painting depicted women. As someone else described it, it was unsexual, heroic, divine, and writhing male power all summed up in the musculature of the body. Almost like statues of the antiquity. The ignudi has his spine twisted (contrapposto) in order for the artist to maximise the amount of body visible and to emphasise the pull and contortions of his elaborate back, thigh and arm muscles. It adds dynamism.
And this can also be seen in Michelangelo’s other works where when drawing women, he used male models and drew women with essentially men’s bodies. Some of these would be the Cumaean and the Libyan Sibyls where he used men as models and then simply added women’s clothing and a face onto the figures. Which is why the Cumaean Sibyl has such an imposing mass and the Libyan Sibyl has Michelangelo’s trademark defined musculature. And of course, it’s not simply limited to just those two paintings as other paintings like his Doni Tondo features a predictably “buff” Mary.
And it all comes back to Michelangelo and his love for the ideal male form. And this idealised musculature and the perfect male body all stems from the fact that Michenaglo viewed it as a sign of the divine or the shadows of heaven on the cave wall. And as the man himself said,
“the true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection”
He was trying to emulate the divine and the heavenly by drawing these idealised and muscled men.
Canabel’s Fallen Angel
This is in contrast to Fallen Angel by Alexandre Cabanel which is far more dramatic and far less non-sexual. Lucifer sits there, in a contrapposto position with his hands clasped in silent simmering rage. It’s very rebellious, sulky and sultry, both with his gaze and how he is ready to take flight, his body primed for action. It is very hot with passion and anger. as some might say. This position, yet again emphasises the idealised musculature in his thighs and his stomach. No real man looks like this yet Lucifer does. All these contrapposto positions to show off the idealised male body reminds me of hentai art where women’s spines are contorted into impossible positions to display both breasts and ‘ass’ in the drawing for maximum ‘pleasure’.
Perhaps an explanation in his allure can be found in the subject matter but also in similar paintings by the artist where he depicts similarly idealised bodies, almost made out of porcelain. One example of this is Albaydé who stares down her very hawkish nose, somewhere behind or next to the viewer as if she were listening to what you were saying but simply doesn’t care. This painting really is something remarkable in my opinion, there is something simply about her strong judgemental yet slightly melancholic gaze, the reds and the greens that keep my eyes glued to the painting.
Or even Cabanel’s painting of the Birth of Venus where she lies on the waves, her idealised porcelain body twisted with her arm melodramatically over her face. It could be suggested that Cabanel, when drawing religious figures and figures from mythology, simply thought to make them serenely beautiful, opalescent and erotic. As Roseblum wrote about the painting, she hovers between ancient deity and a modern dream with her ambiguous eyes where one cannot tell if she is asleep or awake is “especially formidable for a male viewer”.
But another aspect is the story behind Lucifer. Thanks to Paradise Lost, an epic written by the 17th-century poet John Milton, he is often portrayed as the most beautiful angel, cast out of heaven after his rebellion against God. In the epic is portrayed as extremely arrogant, powerful, deceptive and charismatic. And this fits with the painting at hand, with all his rage and rebellion, the arrogance that caused the aforementioned rebellion and the power in his body. It is an understatement to say that the artist was inspired by this famous epic.
Magnan’s Saint Sebastion №1
Unlike the other two mentioned earlier, Saint Sebastian №1 does something different. The last two paintings were most likely unintentionally homoerotic or only subconsciously homoerotic but the choice of a modern St Sebastian is no longer unintentional. The thing is, with St Sebastian, he has historically been portrayed as homoerotic. Though there was a period of time where was portrayed as older but by the time the renaissance came around, he was being portrayed as a younger and more youthful ‘twunk’. And became ‘twinkier’ over time (though still remained a twunk). And one can assume that this was due to various factors but one of them being the influence of classical artworks which were beginning to be studied again.
This homo-eroticism was achieved with the sensuality that he was often portrayed with. But he later gained even more overt queer meanings during the 20th century. For context, he is the patron saint of the protector of illness and during the 20th century, the AIDs epidemic occurred. He has become the unofficial patron saint of gay men and most people painting him would have knowledge of that. But one could also speculate that in his pre-20th and pre-21rst century portrayals, he was essentially taking up a role of ‘passive femininity’ akin to the Virgin Mary. He had been pierced but he still remained pure and saintly.
This painting depicts the arrow riddled Sebastian, laying tenderly in the lap of another man while Saint Irene cares for his wounds. And concerning the time this was painted in, the artist would have had a clear knowledge of the various things associated with St Sebastian as those meanings have strengthened over time. And this is illustrated by the fact that the focal point is Sebastian gazing at the viewer but the eyes also can’t help but be drawn to the other man whereas Irene, draped in her dark robes fades into the dark background. She is clearly not intended to be focused on, instead, the audience is direct to look at the two men. And if you combine that with how his male companion is tenderly looking after him, the homoerotic subtext is no longer subtext but intentional and obvious.
DDR Propaganda Poster
The fourth image is unlike the three others and that’s why I’m mentioning it last. It’s not a painting and just like Fallen Angel, its homo-eroticism is perhaps unintentional. It’s DDR propaganda depicting what is presumably a striking worker with his arm wrapped around a man holding a firearm, presumed to be a soldier (especially with caption which translates into “1rst of May. Ready for work and protecting homeland”). His arm is wrapped around him very securely as if he were proudly marching down the street under the red flag with his boyfriend. There is no sensuality or sexuality but instead, it’s romantic and strong.
It also has no religious themes like the three others as it was painted concerning countries which were known for their repression of religion but even though it features no religious themes, the similarities between it and the other paintings are never-ending. And just like Michelangelo’s work, it’s all about the ideal man and then that unintentionally becoming homoerotic. Just the idea of the ideal man is different. It’s no longer the male body as a shadow of heaven but instead, it’s the ideal worker. Both men are portrayed as very strong, physically fit and with slightly tanned faces. They’re ready for a long day of work in the factory or to protect the DDR.
And what’s curious with the DDR poster is that just like St. Irene, the women is placed in the background. And it doesn’t help either that she’s dressed in pinks and reds and placed before two very red flags whereas the two men are dressed in blues and greys which construct with the flags.
And the thing is, this isn’t a one-off as it’s very similar to another poster featuring a Soviet man and a German man swiping the instruments of war off the table and smacking the before mentioned table as if he were demanding workers rights. Which he clearly is doing, as you can see the ‘Porkie’ or the capitalist who is fat with greed sitting at the table. And next to him sits what could possibly be a fascist sitting at the table next to him in his characteristic brown uniform and cap but the figure lacks the arm band which would be used otherwise. And just like the other poster, it depicts two very strong and masculine men standing together, which can be unintentionally interpreted as a couple.
PART TWO
And if anything tells us this is that no matter where or when this art was produced, that we can’t escape homo-eroticism in art and that’s for the better. For example, Fallen Angel was submitted to the Paris Salon, which had extremely strict rules for what was allowed and wasn’t allowed. It was said to have caused a bit of drama as the artists were shocked and displayed. A similar thing happened to the painting Burial at Ornans by Gustave Courbet which was anarchist and/or communist in nature and caused an explosion of controversy when it was displayed at the Paris Salon.
Or Michelangelo’s artwork which was commissioned by Pope Julius II and Michelangelo was actually not very eager to work on this as he was actually a sculpture and not a painter which can be seen in his first paintings on the Sistine ceiling and how they compared to the works he completed last. This was not art painted for personal enjoyment but for the papacy, fresh out of a lengthy period of time where only religious art was really considered acceptable. For example, when the Birth of Venus by Botticelli (1484–1486) was painted, it would have been considered scandalous as it was a secular painting, devoid of any religious meaning and portrayed nudity in a positive light instead of a representation of sin. And similarly, in The Bonfire of the Vanities in 1497 many artworks were amongst the things burnt as they were considered ‘sinful’. And these were all the remnants of medieval era thoughts and beliefs.
And then we have the modern Saint Sebastian, painted in a period where art is mostly secular due to the dawn of humanism and science where religion has been separated from the state and has mostly moved into private life (well hypothetically it has, in reality, religion is still a force to be reckoned with). But most modern artists don’t require commissions to paint and artists are far more common. The everyday person can be an artist instead of perhaps a select few as they are no longer serfs. The role of the artist has societally changed and the means of making art have become far cheaper as one no longer needs a wealthy patron.
And as I mentioned before, the DDR poster, even though being completely secular and birthed from a culture which repressed religion, it still overlaps with all the other paintings in many different ways.
So in conclusion, no matter the time period or the rules placed on art, homo-eroticism is bound to rear its head. And that is genuinely a good thing as it’s nice to see yourself represented in artwork or to have what is essentially a patron saint of homosexuality (even though it’s unofficial). It gives minority groups strength in times of hardship. And it also reminds people that queer people have always been there and will always be there no matter what.
