Restorers Discover A Big Old Erect Penis In A Classic 17th Century Painting
Posted by: Kate Torgovnick
Filed in:
news
12:30PM, Thursday September 3rd 2009
Sometimes it’s hard to remember that folks back in olden times (a) had a sense of humor and (b) had dirty minds just as bad as ours. But it’s true. An art restorer at the Louvre was tasked with restoring Nicolas Poussin’s 17th century painting “Hymenaios Disguised as a Woman During an Offering to Priapus,” which shows the god of marriage (Hymenaois) giving a gift to the god of fertility (Priapus). Underneath many layers of paint, she found that ... Priapus has an erect penis that’s, well, basically porn-star sized. The restoration team thinks that the peen was probably in the original work and that, years later, another artist covered it up after getting complaints from the Catholic Church. An alternate theory is that, back in the day, artists would paint their subjects nude and then paint clothes on top so as to make them as realistic as possible. Who knows which theory is right, but if you happen to be in Brazil next week, go check out the unveiling of the restored painting at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo. [The Art Newspaper]
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CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on September 3 2009 @ 11:39 am: [report]
That’s nothing, in the ruins of Pompeii they decorated their houses with murals with guys with comically large penises.
wheels2434
wrote on September 3 2009 @ 11:49 am: [report]
The ancients were actually arguably dirtier than we are today. Just read some Catullus - if you think this is shocking, you might die after that.
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on September 3 2009 @ 12:01 pm: [report]
@wheels2434: I just think they were more open to sex, and less knowledgeable about STD’s.
bogart4017
wrote on September 3 2009 @ 12:25 pm: [report]
@cheeeeEEEEse—
bwahahahahahahahahha!
Coral
wrote on September 3 2009 @ 01:58 pm: [report]
And I think generally people were more comfortable with paintings portraying nude people back hundreds of years ago than they are now—despite how much the media and our culture is sexualized.
brandyalexander
wrote on September 3 2009 @ 02:14 pm: [report]
Ahem. As a former art historian, let me tell you there are lots of fun scultpures and paintings of Priapus! Priapus is pretty much the big dick god of ancient Greece and Rome. (Really) So, its pretty normal that he was painted this way, though it might have been considered subversive in the 17th century.
Priapism is named after Priapus… that’s when a guy’s penis stays hard for an extremely long amount of time. Some guys end up in the hospital for this.
Another side note… huge dicks weren’t really considered attractive back then. Its exaggerated to show his connection to animal fertility.
BlueVibe
wrote on September 4 2009 @ 07:46 am: [report]
Thanks, brandyalexander. Lots of fuss over nothing. Those sculptures that are basically columns with heads and penises aren’t that unusual. We saw an exhibit on Pompeii at the art museum not too long ago and they had several on display.