Offspring of the Sun and the Earth: Queer Love in the Arts from Antiquity
‘In the first place, there were three kinds of human beings, not merely the two sexes, male and female, as at present:[...] the male was originally the offspring of the sun, and the female of the earth; while that which partook of both sexes was born of the moon, for the moon also partakes of both’ Plato, Symposium (Fowler 1925, 189-90).
This short course offers a unique opportunity to overview a curated selection of art works from Antiquity presenting iconographies linked to same-sex love. The course will use textual sources –poems, myths, and accounts –dealing with same-sex relationships as framing narratives, and it will discuss a range of artefacts such as painted pottery, precious metalwork, jewellery, stone and terracotta’s sculptures and relieves, bronzes, textiles and wall paintings.
This course will be delivered online via Zoom. All participants will receive information in advance about how to access the course and if any preparation work is required before it commences.
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What you will learn:
• Participants will discuss visual materials in a curated learning environment dealing with issues of gender, identity, and agency mediated by Art History
• By the end of the course, participants will be able both to identify visual sources, relevant fictional and historical characters belonging to diverse antique cultural traditions
• Better understand the rich iconographic solutions dealing with the complex nature of love
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Please note that the virtual course session will not be recorded due to intellectual property rights.
Image: The Musicians, Caravaggio, 1597, Credit: Rogers Fund 1952
