The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion

by Leo Steinberg

Originally published in 1983, Leo Steinberg's classic work has changed the viewing habits of a generation. After centuries of repression and censorship, the sexual component in thousands of revered icons of Christ is restored to visibility. Steinberg's evidence resides in the imagery of the overtly sexed Christ, in Infancy and again after death. Steinberg argues that the artists regarded the deliberate exposure of Christ's genitalia as an affirmation of kinship with the human condition. Christ's lifelong virginity, understood as potency under check, and the first offer of blood in the circumcision, both required acknowledgment of the genital organ. More than exercises in realism, these unabashed images underscore the crucial theological import of the Incarnation. 

This revised and greatly expanded edition not only adduces new visual evidence, but deepens the theological argument and engages the controversy aroused by the book's first publication.

Genres: Art, Art History, History, Nonfiction, Religion, Renaissance, Sexuality

425 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Leo Steinberg, born in Moscow, Russia, was an American art critic and art historian and a naturalized citizen of the U.S.

Though an important 20th-century art critic, Leo Steinberg was also a historian and scholar, particularly of the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and other Italian Renaissance artists. He had a particular interest in the depiction of Christ in art, but this caused controversy and debate. He was also a recognized authority in the field of modern art criticism and produced important work on Pablo Picasso, Jasper Johns and Willem de Kooning. Because he had experience as a historian, his work on contemporary artists could place them in historical context. One of his most significant essays was Contemporary Art and the Plight of its Public, which appeared in March 1962 in Harper's Magazine.

Steinberg took a less-than-formal approach to criticism, sometimes using a first-person narrative in his essays, which personalized the experience of art for readers. In many of his writings, he expressed his love for art's ability not only to reflect life but also to become it and commented, "Anything anybody can do, painting does better." He believed that the difference between modern painting and that of the Old Masters was the viewer's subjective experience of that artwork. He also believed that Abstract Expressionist action painters, such as Pollock, were more concerned with creating good art than with merely expressing a personal identity on canvas, a point of view contrary to that held by Harold Rosenberg, another American art critic of Steinberg's era.

Reviews

[Elise Ames · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an eye opening and interesting read. It provided insight into both art and Christianity. It doesn’t shy away or pull its punches, but rather provides an honest look at what is considered taboo today.

“We are left with a cultural paradox: renaissance artists and preachers were able to make Christian confession only by breaking out of Christian restraints”

“Christ’s redemptive Passion, which culminates on the cross in the blood of the sacred heart, begins in the blood of the penis.”

“Wherein the divine Father’s only-begotten is a virgin, virginally conceived, enfleshed, sexed, circumcised, sacrificed, and so restored to the Throne of Grace; there symbolizing not only the aboriginal unity of the godhead, but in its more dramatic, more urgent message, a conciliation which stands for the atonement, the being-at-one, of man and God.”

[Neev · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best and most engaging art history books I've ever read. The writing is humorous and very accessible, even if you don't have an extensive background knowledge of Renaissance art or the culture of the time period. The basic premise of the text is reassessing some of the more puzzling depictions of Christ by examining them in their proper socio-cultural context, which reveals the symbolism and concepts that would have been more obvious to contemporary viewers of these pieces. Steinberg lays out his ideas very clearly and offers a wealth of examples and images to back up his thesis.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baby Jesus with a hard on? check.
The risen Christ with a hard on? check.
Weird tit play and penis gawking? check.
very amusing book.
We deserve more.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really really good

[Rinnei · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love me a book about the socio-cultural context of christian concepts that tear down modern dogma, and this one is also about nudity in renaissance art so I’m double pleased. This was such an educational yet bizarre book. It knocks you right off your feet by introducing the concept of baby Jesus “seducing” his mother with a chin tuck, a symbolic expression mostly used in antique art between lovers, on page two. Things just escalated from there and I’ve gotta say I was very caught off guard by some concepts, but that is the price of learning a new perspective.

I am never going to look at a painting of baby jesus (or jesus in general) the same way again :P

[brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leo Steinberg is one of the rare art writers with both the gift of insight and education. This book is a phenomenal example - Steinberg presents Renaissance art and theology each as compactly and comprehensively as might be necessary to explain the same material to a smart child, but the content never suffers by straying from the academic. This book provides an interesting insight through the lens of Christian art into how paintings and sculptures alone might hold a historical thread no contemporary writings have, it makes even more ridiculous the censorship of the past several centuries, and most interestingly it convinces the reader of its thesis (that Renaissance artists took a particular interest in Christ's sexuality) to the point of belief in it as orthodoxy.

[Lance Kinzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the author's theory on the theological basis for the depiction of Christ in Renaissance art to be quite plausible. I read the 2nd Edition which devotes a great deal of time to addressing the books critics. While I can certainly understand Steinberg's desire to defend his theory against all comers, I think I might just as well have stopped where the 1st edition concluded. Written in an engaging fashion with wit and aplomb to spare this book should be of interest to anyone interested in the history of artistic depictions of Christ.

[Darcy]

Looks really interesting! analyses different religious paintings and points out the symbolism and hidden messages in each one. for example: it's very common for the child to be holding the mothers chin or breast, or she may be touching the child's groin, or even more common there is a man in the painting admiring the child's groin, totally interesting with tons of paintings as references.

[Jayme Horne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This text is based on a paper Steinberg originally wrote in the 80s, and due to the responses he got, he decided to delve even further and publish it as an entire book, and I support that. This is a fascinating text that rejects the premise that Renaissance art was devoid of sexuality and was the epitome of chastity.
I am a big fan of how one of the last chapters is also dedicated to him just addressing some pretty bad faith and generally just bad criticisms. In the most academic way possible, he said they're were all stupid.

[Liam Ostermann]

brilliant, but only part read, have to read again

[Tom]

I'd never heard of Steinberg before reading his obit in NYT yesterday, but this book sounded intriguing, especially coming on heels of another article I'd just read re Renaissance art and Christianity, in America, National Catholic Weekly (see 2nd link below).


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/art...

http://www.americamagazine.org/conten...

[Ms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't let the blunt wording of the book title offend you. This book is a respectful, scholarly inquiry into a topic most polite people are encouraged to ignore, but with all the provided pictorial evidence, makes it difficult to do so.

Definitely a book I will re-read after I study more Medieval and Renaissance paintings.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

There must be a reason why artists for 500+ years have depicted Christ (especially the infant version) naked. This book outlines the reasons. Art history is rarely as polemical and controversial as this book, which makes it all the more engaging.

[Kathryn Kopple · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leo Steinberg, always eloquent, offers an account of Humanism as celebrated in Renaissance art of such scope and interest that it makes this book one of the great intellectual adventures and achievements of our times.

[Marielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore books that expose me to new ways of thinking. This was one of them. Fantastically researched. And re-researched!

[Saskia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A+

[Silas Coggeshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and clearly written