Gallery Carre
The Triumph of Eros: Art and Seduction in 18th Century France’
Nov 29th, 2006 by Viviane
A review of the `The Triumph of Eros: Art and Seduction in 18th Century France’ at the Hermitage Rooms, Somerset House:
This is a show of prints, paintings and objets d’art on the theme of sexual dalliance drawn from the collection of the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg. Among them are works from a collection of 18th century French erotica probably purchased by one of the czars and locked away in a “special archive” during the prudish Soviet period.As a spectacle it may be cloying except to the true Rococo enthusiast. Still, this small show illustrates a valid point. In Europe, the Enlightenment went along with sexual liberation or libertinism as it was called at the time. This was the age of Voltaire, Rousseau and the Right of Man, and also of Casanova and Mozart’s `Don Giovanni.” The modern world is the product of both.
This was one of several ticketed exhibits I saw while I was in London. I also saw Holbein in England (Tate Britain) and the Velasquez exhibit (National Gallery). Yeah, I’m all about cultah. My favorite engraving was ‘Peeping Tom’ in which a serving girl is about to administer an enema (probably coffee) to her mistress, while her male companion peeps from behind a curtianed doorway. Apparently, in the 18th century this was a complex social ritual.
Sexuality was viewed differently prior to the mid-19th Century, when Victorianism spread all over Europe and America. If one looks at Hogarth’s “Rake” series, for example, they’re quite bawdy, combining the thrill of the wicked, a good, old-fashioned dose of Schadenfreude (joy at someone else’s misfortunes) and some holier-than-thou Christianity.
Hey, it was great to meet you in London. It looks like you saw more shows and exhibitions in a week than I get to in a year. It looks like I’m going to have to make a trip to Somerset House.