Festum Voluptatis : A Study of Renaissance Erotica

324 Pages·1989·13.593 MB·English

by  David O. Frantz

Festum Voluptatis
A Study of Renaissance Erotica
DAVID O. FRANTZ
Festum Voluptatis
A Study of Renaissance Erotica
By David O. Frantz
Festum Voluptatis reveals an area of
Renaissance artistic production that has
too long been obscured by scholarship
emphasizing the ideal, the refined, and
the tastcfi.il. Such scholarship has apolo­
gized for or remained silent about the
earthy, the sensual, and what some sen­
sibilities would term the tasteless in the
visual arts and literature of the Renais­
sance. David Frantz argues the need to
listen to the dialogues of prostitutes as
w ell as the sonnets of chaste and chas­
tened lovers; the need to explain the
scatologv that is a part of Renaissance lit­
erary tra 'η, not pretend that it does
not exist; the need to study the notori­
ous prints of couples engaged in sexual
intercourse and not suppose that they
have all been destroyed.
Frantz deals extensively with the literary
erotica of the Italian Renaissance, with
chapters on the learned erotica of the
Italian academics and the popular erotica
of Aretino and his followers, especially
Niccolo Franco. Visual erotica of the
Italian Renaissance is treated with special
reference to Guilio Romano’s “posi-
zioni” and Agostino Carracci’s “loves of
the gods.” The bawdy, the obscene, the
erotic, and the pornographic find their
place in the discussion of English literary
erotica through the early seventeenth
century, with emphasis on the works of
Thomas Nashc. Frantz concludes with a
chapter in which selected works of Mar­
ston, Donne, Shakespeare, and Spenser
are read within the context of erotica.
Festum Voluptatis

Festum Voluptatis
A Study of Renaissance Erotica
David O. Frantz
Ohio State University Press
Columbus, Ohio
Copyright © 1989 by the Ohio State University Press.
All rights reserved.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Frantz, David O., 1942-
Festum voluptatis : a study of Renaissance erotica / David O. Frantz,
p. cm.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8142-0463-5
1. Erotica—History—16th century. 2. Erotica—History—17th
century. 3. Erotic literature, Italian—History and criticism.
4. Erotic literature, English—History and criticism. I. Title.
HQ458.F73 1989
809'. 933538—del 9 88-23506
CIP
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of
the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council
on Library Resources.
Printed in the U.S.A.
987654321
For My Mother
and in
Memory of My Father

Contents
List of Plates ix
Preface xi
Introduction 1
Chapter I. In Praise of Apples, Figs, and Keys:
The Learned Tradition 9
Chapter II. The Scourge of Princes as Pornographer: Pietro
Aretino and the Popular Tradition 43
Chapter III. The Aretines: Imitation and Vilification 91
Chapter IV The Loves of Men and Gods: Erotica in the
Visual Arts 118
Chapter V A Study in Ambivalence: English Views of Italy 140
Chapter VI. Albion’s Festum: Erotica in England 159
Chapter VII. Thomas Nashe: The English Aretino 186
Chapter VIII. The Context of Erotica: Marston, Donne,
Shakespeare, and Spenser 208
Conclusion 253
Bibliography 255
Index 271
vii