Sexuality in Medieval and Early Modern Art: From the Corbels and Misericords to Late Medieval Manuscript Illustrations

Abstract

The history of sexuality concerns many aspects, including private life, the Church, literature, the laws, and also the arts. While we have previously mostly assumed that sexuality was a taboo for the Christian world, a closer analysis demonstrates that there were many examples of medieval art in churches all over Europe that critically engage with human sexuality, either as a sin or as an ordinary necessity, as a danger or as an important vehicle to reach out to people and probe basic moral and ethical issues. But this article also illustrates that medieval artists were keenly interested in the topic of sex, as countless examples in manuscript illustrations demonstrate. Sex means procreation, but it also met fundamental human needs, which explains why there is much sexual humor in medieval art.