Even prior to 1869, “homosexuality” was hardly a new subject in visual art. In Europe, the representation of Classical themes provided plenty of opportunity to showcase same-sex sexuality, as did certain religious topics, such as the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian. But because this representation took place before the word “homosexual” was coined, the period is marked by a notable fluidity of sexual possibilities. This lack of a polarity in sexual identities is especially evident in a Japanese painted scroll from the mid-19th Century, which chronicles a young man’s coming of age as he moves seamlessly between women and men, and dominance and submission.

     Extended Labels

Henry Fuseli
Switzerland, 1741-1825
The Rape of Ganymede
1804
Exhibition print
National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Collection
LN200.146

This is one of the earliest images, predating the term “homosexuality,” that frames same-sex sexuality through the lens of desire, rather  than power and violence. The Rape of Ganymede illustrates the classical tale of Zeus, who turns himself into an eagle to spirit the beautiful  Ganymede to Mt. Olympus to satisfy his sexual desire. This image is one of the earliest we have of companionate homosexuality, where  there is clear affection between Zeus and Ganymede, radically depicted as the same age. This work from the beginning of the 19th century  would stand unprecedented for over half a century.

French school, circle of Jacques Louis David
France
Academy of a Reclining Man
c. 1790
Charocal and white chalk highlights on paper
Michael Sodomick Queer Art Collection
LN200.87

While not a “homosexual” image, as it predated that term by almost a century, French painter Jacques-Louis David’s celebrated artwork  and studio helped spur interest in a different kind of male subject. David’s males were often victimized, passive individuals in vulnerable  positions. Given that masculinity had long been tied to activity and heroic effort, this new male body was thus in some respects feminized despite its obvious secondary sexual characteristics. Besides fostering interest in a vulnerable masculinity, David created in his studio a context of homosocial comradery in which forms of male/male competition could assume a profoundly emotional and even erotic cast.