Das verlorene Paradies: Eine vorsintflutliche Betrachtung grübeleien des Satyros (Paradise Lost: An Antediluvian Contemplation Imagined by a Satyr) is a singularly strange collection of images. The twenty-six photomechanical prints on glossy paper are mounted into a grey paper album along with a selection of prints by Franz von Bayros and Emil Sartori (a pseudonym of Emil Ranzenhofer), with no indication of their origination or provenance. Time has faded some of them, and somebody has gone through the collection adding choice but imprecise red ink to emphasise (as if it were needed) the preponderance of mouths, nipples and genitals.

At around the same time a shorter portfolio of colour prints was published, of just the nine most specifically anthropocentric couplings; we have added these at the end of the more extensive and imaginative monochrome portfolio.

Whoever painted the originals from which these plates were made was a talented erotic artist as well as having a good grasp of anatomy, both human and wild animal. In this Garden of Eden, Eve and Adam appear to be having a great time exploring the variety of ways of expanding their sensual experiences. Of particular interest are the scenes with dinosaurs and archaic sea creatures, proving that the first humans were contemporaneous with some of Paradise’s earliest life forms.

We are very grateful to Hans-Jürgen Döpp for the monochrome images; Hans-Jürgen, the compiler of many books on erotic art, curates the Venusberg online gallery and bookshop which you can find here. Thanks also to our Russian friend Yuri for the coloured versions.