The excited voyeur

I like to know as much about the artists of pictures posted here as I can discover, which is why, unlike some similar blogs, I don't just post pictures,   It is the nature of erotic art, however, especially in the nineteenth century, that much of it was anonymous and so identification is not always possible.  In the case of this delightful watercolour, I have been unable to find out anything about the painter whatsoever.  The file, sent to me, by my German friend, B, dates it at 1890 (which looks about right from the clothes) and contains the name Franz.  All research has drawn a blank.

It is such fun that I had to post it anyway, as a lady wearing a strap on dildo prepares to take another lady who is falling out of her peignoir.  Observing them from behind a scree is a very excited gentleman who is delicately holding his erection in his elegant white gloves.  Is he just going to watch the show (there is something very theatrical about this - a dressing room, perhaps) or is he planning to take a more active part?  A good time is about to be had by all!

Nymph and Faun by Szinyei Merse Pál (1845-1920)

Here, for Valentine's Day, is a joyfully erotic depiction of a nymph and faun by the Hungarian painter Szinyei Merse Pál.  The faun is entranced by what he has found between the lovely nymph's spread thighs and his goat's penis has responded accordingly.  The nymph, looks equally delighted and, despite the mythological treatment, it says a lot about the joys of a young couple discovering each other's bodies.

Nymph and Faun (sketch) 1868

Amazingly, this picture was painted in around 1867, although it looks more modern. Painted when Szinyei Merse (in Hungary family names come first) was in his early twenties, it is one of a series of pictures he did of nymphs and fauns at the time.  In the others the faun is the dominant subject with the nymph glimpsed in the background.

Nymph and Faun (1868)

The erotic painting was only discovered and authenticated, by one of the artist's family, just over ten years ago.  It was an unusual work to discover in the oeuvre of such an establishment artist in Hungary.

Nymph and Faun (sketch) 1868

Born into an aristocratic family, he took private painting lessons before enrolling in the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München at the age of 19.  The coming of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 saw him move to Genoa, although he returned home in 1873 and only painted occasionally as he had family problems.  For a decade, from 1882, he stopped painting entirely but after a successful exhibition of his work in 1894 he resumed painting and carried on until his death in 1920. He exhibited widely in Europe and the US, became the president of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and also became a member of parliament.  

Amorous Couple by Nicolas Lancret

This painting by Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743) is in stark contrast to the Fête galante paintings for which he was most famous  Fête galante was a term invented to describe Anotoine Watteau's (1684-1721) paintings of aristocrats in ball or fancy dress clothes disporting themselves in an idealised countryside.

Lancret, who was thrown out of the Académie Royale for bad behaviour, joined the workshop of Watteau's teacher, Claude Gillot,and by the 1720, after the death of Watteau and Gillot, monopolised the fête galante style, eventually producing over 700 paintings.

He died in 1743, at the age fifty three, two years after marrying an eighteen year old.  This picture, while not explicit, has a joyous earthiness about it, as the man pulls up the girl's shift to reveal her plump bottom.  good kissing, too!