Homosexuality in Renaissance Italy

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As we begin to read the history of art in Italy one finds some examples of homosexuality among the notables of the time. In fact it was at its peak in the Renaissance Italy (Rocke, 1998, pg. 3). Many celebrities of the time had their male partners that too became known to the world since their name became associated with them. Among the notables the names of Marsilio Ficino, Leonardo da Vinci, Benedetto Varchi, Michelangelo, Pope Julius III, Benvenuto Cellini and Prospero Farinacci are quite prominent. The literary figures of the time used the medium of art to express their feeling for their partners. Michelangelo used both the medium of art and poetry to express his feelings for several young boys. The most prominent name associated with him is that of Cavalieri. The poet has written a number of sonnets in which he has talked about his love for the gentleman.

Here it would be pertinent to discuss the term homosexuality. Rocke points out in his book that the word “homosexual” was not in use until the nineteenth century, and in the Renaissance there was no exact equivalent of it; indeed, it can be (and has been) disputed whether homosexuality existed as a social identity in the sense that it does today. “Sodomy” was the term regularly used to describe same-sex relations, although this word was not synonymous with “homosexuality.” There were certain erotic acts that were considered unnatural and any person found guilty for such acts with his or her own or opposite gender was considered a sodomite (Rocke, 1998, pg. 12).

Rocke defines sodomy as a term usually referred to having sexual relationships among males and includes all those sexual activities that according to Catholic dogma do not result in procreation which is believed to be the sole purpose of having sex. In renaissance Italy the vice of sodomy became so common that most of the men did not feel ashamed to disclose their relationship with other males. In 1376, Pope Gregory XI commented about sodomy among Florentines as an “act so abominable that I dare not mention it.” It was a period when Italy was considered the “mother” of sodomy. Sexual activities of Italians were much talked about in the local and foreign publications and it went to such an extent that in Germany “to sodomize” was most commonly known as “florenzen” and a sodomite was called a “Florenzer” (Rocke, 1998, pg. 3).

The aim of this paper is to discuss the prevalence of homosexuality in the Renaissance Italy. I would like to reflect on its prevalence in the literature of that period. My focus would be on the poetry of Michelangelo who used this medium to talk about his homosexual emotions and in some cases his unfulfilled love for a number of male partners. It would be interesting to see the neoplatonic imagery of his poems as a form of “sublimation” due to the repression of same-sex relations in society.Towards the end I would like to analyze if Michelangelo comes across as a “typical” male homosexual or not.

Because of the continued prevalence of the “unmentionable vice” (as was dubbed by the Italians themselves) homosexual love made its way in the literature of that period. Dante’s “Divine Comedy” discusses homosexuals in hell and paradoxically given respect and affection. Likewise Boccaccio’s witty tale about the sodomite Pietro di Vinciolo in the “Decameron” became the trendsetter for other poets to talk about their homosexual love in poetry. Various novels, elegies, anecdotes and poems talked about same-sex love. Several artists also attempted to compose songs about same-sex love. However several laws were enforced which strictly forbade them to do so (Rocke, 1998, pg.4).

Historians have recorded the names of a number of notable figures who were known to be homosexuals in the Italian Renaissance. Some of the notable names included artists and scientists such as Marsilio Ficino, Leonardo da Vinci, Benedetto Varchi, Michelangelo, Pope Julius III, Benvenuto Cellini and Prospero Farinacci. Each had his own respected partner who too became famous because they had a relationship with the above-mentioned notables of the society (The World History of Male Love, n.d.).

Michelangelo was disliked for his rude temperament and homosexual yearnings. Still he is considered to be one of the greatest lyric poets of renaissance Italy. It is believed that his poems and sculptures are the only proof of his being homosexual. He paid special attention to male beauty and celebrated it in his art. Most of his poems belong to the period when he was in his fifties or sixties. It was during that period that his homosexual yearnings became known to those who admired his poetry. A majority of poems written in 1530s are a reflection of his frustration and unfulfilled love for a twenty-three-year-old male named Tommaso de Cavalieri whom he met in Rome (Singh, n.d.).

Michelangelo has written approximately 300 sonnets and madrigals for Cavalieri. Since homosexuality was socially unacceptable at that time his poems were edited by his followers in order to protect his image. Despite editing, his love for Cavalieri could still be seen in his poems. Cavalieri on the other hand was heterosexual and was just a friend of Michelangelo. That was the reason why Michelangelo’s love for him remained unfulfilled. It is stated that Cavalieri was not the only person who was interested in Michelangelo. There were a number of young boys belonging to the elite class of the society who posed nude for Michelangelo. The poet has written a number of poems about them. Among these boys a notable name is that of Cecchino dei Bracci, a sixteen-year-old boy, whose death inspired the poet to compose 48 epigrams. However, most of these boys used Michelangelo only for their selfish interests (Singh, n.d.). At Cecchino’s death Michelangelo wrote the epitaph stating that his youth is “as a flame that consumes me” and “My love has ratified the agreement which I made of myself to him.” He further writes:

he earthy flesh, and here my bones deprived
Of their charming face and beautiful eyes,
Do yet attest for him how gracious I was in bed
When he embraced, and in what the soul doth live.
I was only alive; but dead, I grew
Dearer to him who lost me when I died.
He loves me more than when I lay beside him;
Then good is death if love, for it, grows too (Norton, 2008).

Michelangelo’s sonnets are a reflection of his homosexual desires against the background of a society that condemns it and considers it a sin. In one of his sonnets written for Cavalieri he writes:

If one chaste love, if one divine compassion,
If one destiny is equal for two lovers,
If one hard fate of the one is felt by the other,
If one spirit, if one will guide two hearts;
If one soul in two bodies makes itself eternal,
Lifting both to heaven with a single wing,
If Love in one blow and one golden arrow
The hearts in two chests can burn and tear;
If the one loves the other and neither loves himself,
With one pleasure and one delight, to such a measure
That one and the other desire to reach a single end:
Thousands and thousands would not make a hundredth
Of such a knot of love, or of such a faith:
And only anger could break and untie it (Hooker, 1996).

The sonnet exposes his love in a neo-platonic language according to which two people are bound together to achieve God or eternity. The poet argues in the sonnet that his desire to achieve eternal is not carnal but spiritual and therefore pure (Hooker, 1996).

In another sonnet written to Cavalieri he writes:
You know that I know, my lord, that you know
That I draw close to taking pleasure in you,
And you know that I know that you know who I am;
So why do you delay our acknowledging each other?
If true is the hope that you give to me,
If true is the great desire that I’ve been given,
Let the wall between them be broken down,
For doubly violent are concealed woes.
If I only love in you, my dearest lord,
That which you love in yourself, do not scorn
Because one spirit has fallen in love with another.
That which I desire and learn from your beautiful face
Is imperfectly comprehended by human minds:
Who wishes to know it must first die (Hooker, 1996).

Once again the sonnet is a clear reflection of his homosexual love for Cavalieri. The sonnet clearly states that the poet wants his partner to accept his love and acknowledge it with full authority and force (Hooker, 1996). On another occasion the poet comments about his intense love for Cavalieri in the following words:

Why should I seek to ease intense desire
With still more tears and windy words of grief?
If only chains and bands can make me blest,
No marvel if alone and naked I go
An armed Cavaliere’s captive and slave confessed (Hooker, 1996).

Cavaliere was a happily married man. However the poems are a reflection of the mystical love that Michelangelo felt for his friend. Michelangelo termed his love for Cavaliere as pure and Platonic and composed a number of poems. He gave a religious touch to his poems where Cavaliere was depicted as a savior and himself as a bride of Christ (Norton, 2008).

In another sonnet which was left unfinished the poet writes:
Over here it was that my love stole from me,
In his mercy, my heart and, farther on, my life.
Herewith his beautiful eyes he promised me help,
And with the same eyes here he stole it back.
Over here he bound me and here released me;
For myself I wept here, and with infinite sorrow
From this rock I saw him leave,
He who stole me from me and never turned back (Hooker, 1996).

The above sonnet discusses the relationship between Michelangelo and another fellow named Gheraardo Perini. The poet has used the traditional technique of using antithesis which is a way to describe his unfulfilled love (Hooker, 1996).). His uses of words such as “bound me” and “released me” are a reflection of the agony that he has felt due to the intense love and departure of the lover. Perini worked with the poet around 1520s and their love for each other developed in 1522-25. It is believed that the following lines written by the poet were for Perini. He writes: ‘I had always thought I could come to terms with love, Now I suffer, and you see how I burn”. Their relationship continued till around mid-1530s (Norton, 2008)”. In another sonnet, left unfinished, the poet writes:

I live in sin, dying to myself I live;
Life is no longer mine, but belongs to sin;
My good is from heaven, the evil I give to myself,
From my own unbound will, which has been stolen from me.
My freedom is a slave, my divinity has made itself
Mortal.
Oh, unhappy state!
To what misery, to what life I’ve been born! (Hooker, 1996).

Michelangelo has made nude male sculptures and written poetry celebrating his homosexual feelings. He believed that the highest form of love could only be for men and not for women. He writes in a sonnet that a woman “is not worthy of a wise and virile heart (Norton, 2008).” On another occasion he comments on his young apprentice in the following words: “Once you saw him, you’d chase him into bed the minute you got home (Norton, 2008).” Talking about his love for male body he says “Whose judgment would be so barbarous as not to appreciate that the foot of a man is nobler than his boot, and his skin nobler than that of a sheep, with which he is dressed (Norton, 2008)”In the above sonnet the poet expresses his sense of guilt, shame and sin. The poem has been written by the poet having his homosexual desires in his mind which were considered as unspeakable evil by the society. The poem gains its significance when read with such a background. It seems that the guilt of sin is too much upon the poet (Hooker, 1996).

Some other names associated with the poet’s homosexual behavior included his young servant Francesco Urbino, Bartolommeo Bettini and Andrea Quaratesi, a young boy with whom the poet’s extreme infatuation is reflected through the letters written to him. Michelangelo mentioned his relationship with Andrea as an arrow being shot by Cupid (Norton, 2008).

After reviewing the poetic themes and style of Michelangelo one can safely conclude that he was quite vocal about his feelings for various people belonging to the same gender. We have studied the evidence that shows that he did have sexual relations with a number of guys who either used him for their selfish interests or really felt the same about the poet. His sculptures of naked men further support our conclusion that he did have relationship with men. Sodomy, as was the term used by the Italians in the renaissance, is reflected through Michelangelo’s work and he did not feel the need to hide it from the world. Michelangelo never got married and his views about women as being inferior to men and not worthy of highest form of love are also convincing. Whatever the case was, Michelangelo’s love for young men has led him to produce a number of masterpieces in poetry and also in the art of sculptures. The world remembers him more as a genius rather than a sodomite or homosexual in the modern language.

References

Hooker, R. (1996). “Michelangelo- Selected Poetry”, Web.

Norton, R. (2008). “The Passions of Michelangelo”, Gay History and Literature, Web.

Rocke, M. (1998). “Forbidden Friendships- Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence.” Oxford University Press. United States. Pg. 1-5.

Singh, S. (n.d.). “Michelangelo: The Love Poet,” Zeenews.com, Web.

“The World History of Male Love”, (n.d.). Web.

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Homosexuality in Renaissance Italy

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