Taking Positions

Taking Positions is an exploration of the place of the erotic in Renaissance art and culture, focusing on a notorious set of images created by the young Italian master Giulio Romano. In the early 1520s, Giulio made sixteen drawings of couples in various sexual positions. Known as I modi (the positions), the drawings were first circulated privately and then made into engravings that were distributed publicly.

Only then did authorities begin to consider I modi obscene and threatening, going so far as to jail the engraver. Modeled in part on classical sources, Giulio's drawings themselves became a model for erotica throughout the sixteenth century, first legitimized with a cover of ancient mythology, then later transformed into strange anatomical figures of the female body.

The book is generously illustrated and includes full translations of the infamous sonnets that Pietro Aretino wrote to accompany I modi. Exploring such issues as censorship, religious teachings about sex, and the influence of antique culture, Taking Positions is a major contribution to our understanding of the erotic in Renaissance culture.