Sexualities, Textualities, Art and Music in Early Modern Italy : Playing with Boundaries

The essays in this interdisciplinary collection draw on visual art, theatre, music, history and literature, in sacred and secular contexts, to explore the cultural fashioning of sexualities in early modern Italy. Approaching the topic from the point of view of both visual and auditory media, the essays demonstrate the role played by artistic production in fashioning, policing, and challenging early modern sexual boundaries.

Taking as axiomatic the concept that artistic output does not simply reflect culture but also shapes it, the essays in this interdisciplinary collection take a holistic approach to the cultural fashioning of sexualities, drawing on visual art, theatre, music, and literature, in sacred and secular contexts. Although there is diversity in disciplinary approach, the interpretations and readings offered in each essay have a historical basis. Approaching the topic from the point of view of both visual and auditory media, this volume paints a comprehensive picture of artists’ challenges to erotic boundaries, and contributes to new historicizing thinking on sexualities. Collectively, the essays demonstrate the role played by artistic production-visual arts, literature, theatre and music-in fashioning, policing, and challenging early modern sexual boundaries, and thus help to identify the ways in which the arts contributed to both the disciplining and the exploration of a range of sexualities.