I Modi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I Modi (The Ways, also known as The 16 Pleasures) is a famous, essentially lost erotic book of the Italian Renaissance.

Contents 1 Original edition 2 Later edition 2.1 Classical guise 2.2 Differences from antique art 2.3 Table of contents 3 Footnotes

[edit] Original edition

See also: History of erotic depictions#Printing

The original edition was created by the engraver Marcantonio Raimondi (basing his 16 images of sexual positions on a series of erotic paintings that Giulio Romano was doing as a commission for Frederico II's new Palazzo del Te in Mantua).^[1] The engravings were published by Raimondi in 1524, and led to his imprisonment by Pope Clement VII and the destruction of all copies of the illustrations. (Romano did not become aware of the engravings until the poet Pietro Aretino came to see the original paintings while Romano was still working on them, and was not prosecuted since - unlike Raimondi - his images were not intended for public consumption.) Aretino then composed 16 explicit^[2] sonnets to accompany the paintings/engravings, and secured Raimondi's release from prison.

The I Modi was then published a second time in 1527, now with the poems and the pictures, making this the first time erotic text and images were combined, though the papacy once more seized all the copies it could find. Raimondi escaped prison on this occasion, but the suppression on both occasions was comprehensive. No original copies of this edition have survived, with the exception of a few fragments in the British Museum, and two copies of posture 1. A, possibly pirated^[3], copy with crude illustrations in woodcut, printed in Venice in 1550^[4] and bound in with some contemporary texts was discovered in the 1920s, containing 15 of the 16 postures.^[5]

Despite the seeming loss of Raimondi's originals today, it seems certain that at least one full set survived until the late 16th Century, since both the 1550 woodcuts and the so-called Caracci suite of prints (see below) agree in every compositional and stylistic respect with those fragments that have survived. Certainly, unless the engraver of the Caracci edition had access to the British Museum's fragments, and reconstructed his compositions from them, the similarities are too close to be accidental. ^[6][7] The text of Aretino's sonnets, however, survives.

[edit] Later edition

A new series of graphic and explicit engravings of sexual positions was produced by Camillo Procaccini^[8] or more likely by Agostino Carracci for a later reprint of Aretino's poems.^[9][10]

Their production was in spite of their artist's working in a post-Tridentine environment that encouraged religious art and restricted secular and public art. They are best known from the 1798 edition of the work printed in Paris as "L`Aretin d`Augustin Carrache ou Receuil de Postures Erotiques, d`apres les Gravures a l`eau-forte par cet Artiste celebre" ("The 'Aretino' of Agostino Carracci, or a survey of erotic poses, after Carracci's engravings, by this famous artist" - this famous artist was Jacques Joseph Coiny, who lived from 1761 to 1809).^[11]

Agostino's brother Annibale Carracci also completed the elaborate fresco of Loves of the Gods for the Palazzo Farnese in Rome (where the Farnese Hercules which influenced them both was housed). These images were drawn from Ovid's Metamorphoses and include nudes, but (in contrast to the sexual engravings) are not explicit, intimating rather than directly depicting the act of lovemaking.

[edit] Classical guise

Several factors were used to cloak these engravings in classical scholarly respectability:

• the images nominally depicted famous pairings of lovers (eg Antony and Cleopatra) or husband-and-wife deities (eg Jupiter and Juno) from classical history and mythology engaged in sexual activity, and were entitled as such. Related to this were:
  • Portraying them with their usual attributes, such as:
    • Cleopatra's banquets, bottom left
    • Achilles's shield and helmet, bottom left
    • Hercules in his lion-skin and club
    • Mars with his cuirass
    • Paris as a shepherd
    • Bacchus with his vine-leaf crown and (bottom right) grapes
  • Referring to the best known myths or historical events in which they appeared eg:
    • Mars and Venus under the net which her husband Vulcan has designed to catch them
    • 'Aeneas' and 'Dido' in the cave in which their sexual intercourse is alluded in Aeneid, Book 4
    • Theseus abandoning Ariadne on Naxos, where Bacchus finds and marries her.^[12]
    • the wide adultery of Julia
    • Messalina's participation in prostitution, as criticised in Juvenal's Satire VI.
  • Referring to other Renaissance and classical tropes in the depiction of these people and deities, such as
    • The contrast between Mars's dark hair and tanned skin and his partner Venus's untanned, fair skin and fair or even blonde hair.^[13]
    • Jupiter's full beard ^[14]
• the frontispiece image is entitled Venus Genetrix,^[15] and the goddess is nude and drawn in a chariot by doves, as in the classical sources.
• the bodies of those depicted show clear influences from classical statuary known at the time, such as:
  • the over-muscled torsos and backs of the men ^[16](drawn from sculptures such as the Laocoön and his Sons, Belvedere Torso, and Farnese Hercules).^[17]
  • the women's clearly defined though small breasts (drawn from examples such as the Venus de' Medici and Aphrodite of Cnidus)^[18]
  • the elaborate hairstyles of some of the women, such as his Venus, Juno or Cleopatra (derived from Roman Imperial era busts such as this one).
• Portraying the action in a classical 'stage set' such as an ancient Greek sanctuary or temple.
• The large erect penis on the statue of Priapus or Pan atop a puteal in 'The Cult of Priapus' is derived from examples in classical sculpture and painting (like this fresco, this sarcophagus and this statuette) which were beginning to be found archaeologically at this time.^[19]

[edit] Differences from antique art

The work has various points of deviation from classical literature, erotica, mythology and art which suggest its classical learning is lightly worn, and make clear its actual modern setting:

• the male sexual partners' large penises (though not Priapus's) are the artist's invention rather than a classical borrowing - the idealised penis in classical art was small, not large (large penises were seen as comic or fertility symbols, as for example on Priapus, as discussed above).
• The title 'Polyenus and Chryseis' pairs the fictional Polyenus with the actual mythological character Chryseis.
• The title 'Alcibiades and Glycera' pairs two historical figures from different periods - the 5th century BC Alcibiades and the 4th century BC Glycera
• Female satyrs did not occur in classical mythology, yet they appear twice in this work (in 'The Satyr and his wife' and 'The Cult of Priapus').^[20]
• All the women and goddesses in this work (but most clearly its Venus Genetrix) have a hairless groin (like classical statuary of nude females) but also a clearly apparent vulva (unlike classical statuary).^[21]
• the modern furniture, eg
  • the various stools and cushions used to support the participants or otherwise raise them into the right positions (eg here)
  • the other sex aids (eg a whip, bottom right)
  • the 16th century beds, with ornate curtains, carvings, taselled cushions, bedposts, etc.

[edit] Table of contents

Note: These prints are late 18th century re-creations of the originals (which have, in turn, influenced later erotic art, such as that of Paul Avril[1]).

Image	No.	Title (English translation)	Male partner	Female partner	Sexual position	Notes
	1	Venus Genetrix	-	Venus Genetrix	-	-
	2	Paris and Oenone	Paris	Oenone	Side-by-side, man on top
	3	Angelique and Medor	Medor	Angelique	Reverse cowgirl	Characters from Roland
	4	The satyr and the nymph	Satyr	Nymph	Missionary position (man on top & standing, woman lying)
	5	Julia with an athlete	An athlete	Julia the Elder	Reverse cowgirl (woman standing)	Woman guiding in penis
	6	Hercules and Deianaira	Hercules	Deianira	Standing missionary (woman supported by man)
	7	Mars and Venus	Mars	Venus	Missionary (woman on top[22])
	8	The Cult of Priapus	Pan, or a male satyr	A female satyr	Missionary (male standing, woman sitting)
	9	Antony and Cleopatra	Mark Antony	Cleopatra	Spooning (male on right) or side-by-side missionary
	10	Bacchus and Ariadne	Bacchus	Ariadne	Leapfrog - woman entirely supported	Woman's legs up not kneeling as usual in this position
	11	Polyenos and Chriseis	Polyenos (fictional)	Chryseis	Missionary (man on top and standing, woman lying)
	12	A satyr and his wife	Male satyr	Female satyr	Missionary (man standing, woman sitting)
	13	Jupiter and Juno	Jupiter	Juno	Standing (man standing/kneeling, woman supported [23])
	14	Messalina in the booth of 'Lisica'	Brothel client	Messalina	Missionary (female lying, male standing)
	15	Achilles and Briseis	Achilles	Briseis	Standing (man entirely supporting woman)
	16	Ovid and Corinna	Ovid	Corinna	Missionary (man on top, woman guiding erect penis into her vagina)	Woman deepening penetration by having her legs outside his.
	17	Aeneas and Dido [accompanied by a Cupid]	Aeneas	Dido	Fisting with left hand index finger (thus little nudity relative to other images)	Lesser nudity, though wet T-shirt effect round breasts; Cupid is erect
	18	Alcibiades and Glycera	Alcibiades	Glycera	Missionary (man on top and standing, woman lying and legs up)	Man also raised up to right level for vagina by right foot on step
	19	Pandora	?Epimetheus (crowned figure)	Pandora	Side by side	The boy with the candle may be a classical reference.[24]

[edit] Footnotes