I Modi


I Modi, also known as The Sixteen Pleasures or under the Latin title De omnibus Veneris Schematibus, is a famous erotic book of the Italian Renaissance in which a series of sexual positions were explicitly depicted in engravings. While the original edition was apparently completely destroyed by the Catholic Church, fragments of a later edition survived. The second edition was accompanied by sonnets written by Pietro Aretino, which described the sexual acts depicted. The original illustrations were probably copied by Agostino Carracci, whose version survives.

Original edition

The original edition was created by the engraver Marcantonio Raimondi, basing his sixteen images of sexual positions on, according to the traditional view, a series of erotic paintings that Giulio Romano was doing as a commission for Federico II Gonzaga’s new Palazzo Te in Mantua. Marcantonio had worked extensively with Romano's master Raphael, who had died in 1520, producing prints to his design. The engravings were published by Marcantonio in 1524, and led to his imprisonment by Pope Clement VII and the destruction of all copies of the illustrations. Romano did not become aware of the engravings until the poet Pietro Aretino came to see the original paintings while Romano was still working on them. Romano was not prosecuted since—unlike Marcantonio—his images were not intended for public consumption. Aretino then composed sixteen explicit sonnets to accompany the paintings/engravings, and secured Marcantonio's release from prison.
I Modi were then published a second time in 1527, now with the poems that have given them the traditional English title Aretino's Postures, making this the first time erotic text and images were combined, though the papacy once more seized all the copies it could find. Raimondi escaped prison on this occasion, but the suppression on both occasions was comprehensive. No original copies of this edition have survived, with the exception of a few fragments in the British Museum, and two copies of posture 1. A, possibly infringing copy with crude illustrations in woodcut, printed in Venice in 1550, and bound in with some contemporary texts was discovered in the 1920s, containing fifteen of the sixteen postures.
Despite the seeming loss of Marcantonio's originals today, it seems certain that at least one full set survived, since both the 1550 woodcuts and the so-called Caracci suite of prints agree in every compositional and stylistic respect with those fragments that have survived. Certainly, unless the engraver of the Caracci edition had access to the British Museum's fragments, and reconstructed his compositions from them, the similarities are too close to be accidental.
In the 17th century, certain Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford, engaged in the surreptitious printing at the University Press of Aretino's Postures, Aretino's De omnis Veneris schematibus and the indecent engravings after Giulio Romano. The Dean, Dr. John Fell, impounded the copper plates and threatened those involved with expulsion. The text of Aretino's sonnets, however, survives.
The Restoration closet drama Farce of Sodom is set in "an antechamber hung with Aretine's postures."

Later edition

A new series of graphic and explicit engravings of sexual positions was produced by Camillo Procaccini or more likely by Agostino Carracci for a later reprint of Aretino's poems.
Their production was in spite of their artist's working in a post-Tridentine environment that encouraged religious art and restricted secular and public art. They are best known from the 1798 edition of the work printed in Paris as “L'Arétin d'Augustin Carrache ou Recueil de Postures Érotiques, d'Après les Gravures à l'Eau-Forte par cet Artiste Célèbre, Avec le Texte Explicatif des Sujets”.
Agostino's brother Annibale Carracci also completed the elaborate fresco of Loves of the Gods for the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. These images were drawn from Ovid's Metamorphoses and include nudes, but are not explicit, intimating rather than directly depicting the act of lovemaking.

Classical guise

Several factors were used to cloak these engravings in classical scholarly respectability:
The work has various points of deviation from classical literature, erotica, mythology and art which suggest its classical learning is lightly worn, and make clear its actual modern setting:
Note: These prints are late 18th century re-creations of the originals.
ImageNo.Title Male partnerFemale partnerSexual positionNotes-
1Venus Genetrix-Venus GenetrixFemale figure study of nude in frontal disposition-
2Paris and OenoneParisOenoneSide-by-side, man on top-
3Angelique and MedorMedorAngeliqueReverse cowgirlCharacters from Roland-
4The satyr and the nymphSatyrNymphMissionary position -
5Julia with an athleteAn athleteJulia the ElderReverse cowgirl Woman guiding in penis-
6Hercules and DeianairaHerculesDeianiraStanding missionary -
7Mars and VenusMarsVenusMissionary -
8The Cult of PriapusPan, or a male satyrA female satyrMissionary -
9Antony and CleopatraMark AntonyCleopatraSide-by-side missionaryWoman guiding in penis-
10Bacchus and AriadneBacchusAriadneLeapfrog - woman entirely supportedWoman's legs up not kneeling as usual in this position-
11Polyenos and ChriseisPolyenos ChryseisMissionary -
12A satyr and his wifeMale satyrFemale satyrMissionary -
13Jupiter and JunoJupiterJunoStanding -
14Messalina in the booth of 'Lisica'Brothel clientMessalinaMissionary -
15Achilles and BriseisAchillesBriseisStanding -
16Ovid and CorinnaOvidCorinnaMissionary Woman deepening penetration by having her legs outside his.-
17Aeneas and Dido AeneasDidoFingering with left hand index finger Lesser nudity, though wet T-shirt effect round breasts; Cupid is erect-
18Alcibiades and GlyceraAlcibiadesGlyceraMissionary Man also raised up to right level for vagina by right foot on step-
19Pandora?Epimetheus PandoraSide by sideThe boy with the candle may be a classical reference.-

Footnotes