L'Aretin d'Augustin Carrache  

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L'Aretin d'Augustin Carrache, ou Recueil de Postures érotiques, d'après les gravures à l'eau-forte, par cet artiste célèbre (The Aretino of Agostino Carracci, after engravings by that famous artist, 1798) is a collection of erotic engravings said to be based on designs of Agostino Carracci. They are said to be a reinterpretation of the I Modi (1520s), but bear little resemblance to the woodblock I Modi and can thus better be considered as a generic Loves of the Gods print set. L'Aretin d`Augustin Carrache was designed by Camillo Procaccini and engraved by Jacques Joseph Coiny (1761 - 1809). Their production was in spite of their artist’s working in a post-Tridentine environment that encouraged religious art and restricted secular and art.

Bibliographic notes from Bibliographie des ouvrages relatifs à l'amour

Bibliographie des ouvrages relatifs à l'amour

L'Arétin d'Augustin Carrache, ou Recueil de postures erotiques, d'après les gravures à l'eau-forte de cet artiste célèbre, avec un texte explicatif des sujets (attribué à Croze-Magnan). A la nouvelle Cythère (Paris, P. Didot), 1798, gr. in-4, avec 20 pl.grav. par Coiny. — Dans le catalogue de la vente B**\ faite en 1845, nous trouvons, sous le n° 1150, un exempl. sans fig., de L'Arétin d'Aug. Carrache, à la nouvelle Cythère, format in-18.— Le même ouvr. a été réimp. aussi sous le titre suivant : Les Amours des Dieux payens. Lampsaque (Paris), 1802, 1805, 2 vol. pet. in-12 de 106 et 107 pp. (ou 166 pp. ch. vol.), plus 20 planches assez mal gravées ; du reste, le texte et les fig. sont pareils à ceux de l'éd. in-4. Cette petite éd. a été cond. en 1825 par le trib. correctionnel de la Seine. M. Hubeaud pense que les eaux-fortes, reproduites et terminées au burin par Coiny, sont peut-être celles de Petre de Jode, mentionnées par Florent Lecomte {Cabinet des singularités, 1702, tom. II, page 185), et portant sur leur frontispice : Questo delV Aretino son le posture..., etc. M. Hubeaud fait observer, en outre, que l'éditeur s'est étrangement fourvoyé dans son explication de la planche XIX, dans laquelle il s'est imaginé de voir Pandore et les Dieux ; il en aurait donné la vraie explication s'il avait consulté Ovide {Fastes, liv. II, vers 355-552), qui raconte la déconvenue de Faune voulant surprendre les faveurs d'Omphale, qui se trouvait auprès d'Hercule. — Dans ces 20 planches, tous les personnages mis en scène ne sont pas des Dieux; on y trouve Antoine et Cléopâtre, Julie et un athlète. — Il existe une série de 20 photographies faites d'après de bonnes gravures anciennes et annoncées comme étant d'après Annibal Carrache. Elles diffèrent de la suite in-4, quoique quelques-unes soient semblables. Nous croyons que ce sont les mêmes que celles qui accompagnent les Amours des Dieux payens, mais elles sont de bien plus grandes dimensions. — Ces 20 figures se retrouvent dans une ancienne et petite collection de bonnes gravures sans frontispice, et qui se compose de 30 planches. Les gravures, de forme circulaire, sont au haut de la page ; au bas est gravée une stànce, qui ne s'applique pas toujours au sujet représenté. Douze de ces stances correspondent à celles de L'Arétin françois. Les dix autres figures représentent d'autres sujets, dont quelques-uns ont été reproduits dans L'Académie des Dames et dans Thérèse. Au coin de chaque page, à droite, est la figure d'une carte à jouer. — On connaît aussi 30 photographies annoncées comme étant d'après Jules Romain ; vingt représentent des sujets que le bibliophile auquel nous devons cette note n'a pas rencontrés ailleurs ; les dix autres sont d'après les Douze Césars ou d'après Vénères et Priapi, à l'exception de la dernière, qui reproduit une lithographie française moderne et qui a été évidemment substituée a quelque autre estampe.

List of prints

Venus Genetrix[1], Paris and Oenone[2], Angelique and Medor[3], The satyr and the nymph[4], Julia with an athlete[5], Hercules and Deianaira[6], Mars and Venus[7], The Cult of Priapus[8], Antony and Cleopatra[9], Bacchus and Ariadne[10], Polyenos and Chriseis[11], A satyr and his wife[12], Jupiter and Juno[13], Messalina in the booth of 'Lycisca'[14], Achilles and Briseis[15], Ovid and Corinna[16], Aeneas and Dido[17], Alcibiades and Glycera[18], Pandora[19],

Background

A new series of graphic and explicit engravings of I Modi was produced by Camillo Procaccini or more likely by Agostino Carracci for a later reprint of Aretino's poems.

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).

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.
    • 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.
    • Jupiter's full beard
• the frontispiece image is entitled Venus Genetrix, 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 (drawn from sculptures such as the Laocoön and his Sons, Belvedere Torso, and Farnese Hercules).
  • the women's clearly defined though small breasts (drawn from examples such as the Venus de' Medici and Aphrodite of Cnidus)
  • 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.

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').
• 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).

• 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.

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.