Come up and see my etchings …

15th November 2023

Not the most explicitly erotic images by today’s standards, but in the late 18th century Charles Eisen was the leading French engraver illustrating libertine texts. See the complete plates for Boccaccio’s Decameron and La Fontaine’s stories now by clicking here.

Right royal goings on

14th November 2023

What was it about Spain’s plump Queen Isabella II, her husband Francisco de Paula and her confessor Antonio Maria Claret that was so attractive to 1860s political satirist Valeriano Domínguez Bécquer? Find out and see all his explicit watercolours now by clicking here.

Roman justice?

13th November 2023

It’s a great pleasure to bring you all a new portfolio by Raoul Serres, aka Schem. It’s his illustrations for a 1949 edition of La porte de l’âne (The Donkey Gate), the story of the fate of Antonia, an (understandably) unfaithful Roman woman. See them all now by clicking here.

Double take

7th November 2023

Twisted humour and telling visual juxtapositions – that’s the work of today’s new artist, San Francisco-based Mitsu Okubo, with his deceptively simple drawings and collages. But every one is worth a second look. See them all now by clicking here.

Sex in Venice

6th November 2023

Thanks to two lovely friends we now have both versions – colour and duotone – of Georges Drain’s enchanting illustrations for the Marquis de Sade’s Le bordel de Venise (The Venice Brothel). Only eight of them, but true 1920s French classics. See them all now by clicking here.

Sex Parisian-style

5th November 2023

One of the best-known Parisian magazine artists of the early twentieth century, Zygmunt Brunner only illustrated two erotic classics – and we have both of them. See his stylish portfolios for Gamiani and Le Diable au Corps now by clicking here.

The complexity of the engaged artist

3rd November 2023

Brilliant painter, philosopher, social activist, obsessive bibliophile, ardent lover of women – that’s today’s remarkable new artist, Robert Lenkiewicz. A complex and driven painter who put himself at the heart of his local community, see his work now by clicking here.

Gamiani reprise

31st October 2023

Alfred de Musset’s ‘Gamiani’ is one of the best-known classics of French erotic literature, and one of the most-often illustrated. Today’s new addition is from 1935, by the ubiquitous Anonymous, and you can see it (donkey, monkey, hanged man and all) by clicking here.

Chansons érotiques

30th October 2023

A 1923 set of illustrations today to Béranger’s Erotic Songs, by Alex Virot, much better known as a pioneer French broadcaster than as an artist. But he did also like fleshly pursuits and wasn’t a half bad illustrator, as you’ll see if you click here.

Garden of delights

28th October 2023

Eighteenth-century orgies today – Sigmund Freudenberger’s etchings for Nerciat’s scandalous Les Aphrodites, a fictional fantasy of frolicking French aristocrats and clergy. See them all now by clicking here.