Erotic Pompeiian Scenes from the Secret Museum, 19th C.

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Erotic Pompeiian Scenes from the Secret Museum, 19th C.

About the Item

A set of three 19th century erotic, period hand colored neoclassical prints depicting once forbidden Pompeiian fresco scenes, available for viewing in print and in the 'Secret Museum' (today the Archaeological Museum in Naples), in beautiful, high quality, hand finished light blue painted frames with gilded edges and corners. 19TH CENTURY HAND COLORED EROTIC PRINTS AFTER FRESCOES FOUND IN POMPEII The term Secret Museum or Secret Cabinet (Gabinetto Segreto) principally refers to the collection of erotic or sexually explicit finds from Pompeii, held in separate galleries in the Naples National Archaeological Museum, Naples, Italy, the former Museo Borbonico. Throughout ancient Pompeii, erotic frescoes, depictions of the god Priapus, sexually explicit symbols, inscriptions, and even household items (such as phallic oil lamps) were found. Ancient Roman culture had a different sense of shame for sexuality, and viewed sexually explicit material very differently to most present-day cultures. Ideas about obscenity developed from the 18th century to the present day into a modern concept of pornography. Although the excavation of Pompeii was initially an Enlightenment project, once artifacts were classified through a new method of taxonomy, those deemed obscene and unsuitable for the general public were termed pornography and in 1821 they were locked away in a Secret Museum. For good measure, the doorway was bricked up in 1849. At Pompeii, locked metal cabinets were constructed over erotic frescos, which could be shown, for a modest additional fee, to gentlemen but not to ladies. This peep show was still in operation at Pompeii in the 1960s. The cabinet was only accessible to "people of mature age and respected morals", which in practice meant only educated males. The catalogue of the secret museum was also a form of censorship, where engravings and descriptive texts played down the content of the room. The excavation of Pompeii was important to a range of powerful, and often conflicting, interests who saw the discovery of Pompeii as validating their own view of history, but at the same time excluded anything that did not fit the preferred model. Later Benito Mussolini saw the excavation of Pompeii as validating the continuity of a Nova Roma. The presence of sexually explicit material, however, was problematic. Re-opened, closed, re-opened again and then closed again for nearly a hundred years, the secret room was briefly made accessible again at the end of the 1960s before being finally re-opened in the year 2000. Since 2005, the collection is kept in a separate room in the Naples National Archaeological Museum. Source: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Cabinet_Naples)

Dimensions:
Height: 15.5 in (39.37 cm)Depth: 12.5 in (31.75 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 3
Style:
Neoclassical (Of the Period)
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1870s
Condition:
New, museum quality framing.
Seller Location:
Essex, MA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU8377926886