Have you ever wondered about the image I used as the icon for this series? Maybe you weren’t even sure what is was depicting. I’ve been wanting to cover publications about the presentation of same-sex desire in visual arts in the pre-modern period for some time, but it isn’t a topic that’s received a lot of attention. And it isn’t always easy to determine what images are showing same-sex desire as opposed to same-sex interactions that were not, at that time, considered to be erotic or sexual. (For example, kissing was used as a non-sexual ritual in many different situations.)
So when I spotted this book last May during my annual pilgrimage to the medieval studies congress at Kalamazoo, I knew I'd struck gold. I only wish that I could do a better job of sharing the actual art with my readers, but you'll have to make do with my poor redrawing talents.
Although this book focuses far more heavily on male topics than female ones, the balance probably reflects the relative amounts of material available and the different emphasis on them in the period being studied. And the inclusion of depictions of transgender subjects is delightfully unexpected.
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