The stereotype of the gay artist is pretty well known today, but have you ever wondered where it originated? I have, and my best guess is the art scene in Renaissance Italy, especially in Florence. A lot of people nowadays at least accept the possibility that Leonardo da Vinci was gay, but he wasn’t an anomaly. Giovanni Bazzi (known as Il Sodoma, which originally was a mocking nickname at his homosexuality that he came to embrace), Sandro Botticelli, Benvenuto Cellini, and even Michelangelo are all at least presumed gay among many others, and honestly there’s generally a fair bit of evidence for most of them. In my post today, I’ll be talking mostly about Donatello, one of my favourite gay artists of Renaissance Italy, and his famous sculpture David, as well as a bit about the queer culture of 15th century Florence.
Donatello (1386-1466) is one of the first modern artists that historians agree was gay, and he completely revolutionised art during the early Renaissance. He restored sculpture, which had been a fairly unpopular art form at the time, to Greco-Roman standards and brought it back into the mainstream. Donatello was allegedly notorious for falling for his apprentices (which he appeared to pick based on their looks rather than their talents) and male models (and honestly, isn’t that the dream? To be but a humble, beautiful male model whose artist absolutely adores them? No? Just me? Fair enough). He was known for following them around Italy when they left him, however, which wasn’t great, but also, you’ll find that most historical figures, whatever their orientation, have been a bit yikes sometimes. These aspects of their lives aren’t the things we’re celebrating, so I won’t clutter this post with them.
Donatello’s David is an amazing piece of art, that was equally controversial and absolutely integral to the progression of sculptures and other mediums in the Renaissance art scene. Like the Golden Age of Piracy, I could probably write more for this then I have ever written for all of my university essays so far put together, but I’ll try my best to be brief. It is a bronze statue that depicts the biblical character David after defeating Goliath. David was a very important figure in 15th century Florence as they identified with him, being small and with a history of defending themselves against powerful enemies, and so the story was a common motif in Florentine art at the time. Donatello’s statue, however, is particularly unique. Not only was it the first full-scale bronze male nude and the first free-standing sculpture since antiquity, it was also really gay.
David is depicted in this sculpture as young, unmuscular and androgynous (it has been noted that, from the back, it is almost impossible to tell whether the figure is a male or female), and to the Renaissance gays, this was essentially the image of the ideal twink. David’s beauty was very much a symbol of the ancient celebration of love and sex between men that was revived during the Renaissance. On the topic of reviving ancient ideals, it is also worth noting that Donatello often took inspiration from Roman busts and that art historians believe David was based on a bust of Antinous, the gay lover of Emperor Hadrian. Another sneakily gay aspect of this sculpture is Goliath’s helmet at David’s feet. Not only is the helmet adorned with figures of cupid, one of the wings goes right up David’s inner thigh, leading the onlooker’s eyes straight to David’s butt.
After Donatello’s David, it became incredibly popular for other sculptors to sculpt their own portrayals of the character, Michelangelo’s perhaps being the most well-known. This prompted a member of the Florentine government to suggest that Donatello’s work should be moved elsewhere and replaced with a straighter version. He said that David’s leg looked “schiocha”, a word meaning silly or awkward, but also a colloquial term for male lover, and that it was inappropriate to portray a biblical king in such a sexualised manner (even though the relationship between David and Jonathan is one of the closest bonds between two men in the bible). It was believed that this piece of queer art was not representative of Florence, when in fact it was perhaps the best representation of 15th century Florence for this very reason.
15th century Florence had such a strong reputation for accepting gay sex (even though it was still illegal) that it even influenced slang in other countries: France called gay sex “the Florentine Vice” and the Germans used “Florenzer” as slang for a gay person! Records show that a huge proportion of the men in Florence were either accused of or charged with sodomy, including Leonardo da Vinci (and these were just the ones that got caught). Conservative monks hated this, not so much from a ‘moral’ standpoint, but rather because they thought that more unmarried men would lead to population decline in the city. Much like Vasseur’s attempts to heterosexualize the gay pirates of Tortuga, Florentine politicians during the 15th century opened a large number of brothels in an attempt to lure gay men into straight sex. However, on the whole, relationships between men were fairly accepted in Florence, especially among artists, whose studios were almost entirely homosocial.
The academic Michael Rocke pointed out another aspect of Donatello’s David that leads to the idea that the sculpture was a monument to Florence’s queer culture, and that is his hat. It is believed that David’s big hat is a reference to something called the “hat game”. This was a seduction technique in which Florentine boys would steal the hats of the boys they fancied in order to gain their attention. Often, they would refuse to give the hat back until they felt satisfied with the amount of attention they received.
In conclusion, Donatello was a gay man, and without him, the art of the Italian Renaissance era would not have been the same. History is a lot gayer than the cishets would have you believe. It isn’t just limited to pirates, cowboys, and Renaissance artists, though they are fun ones to explore! I hope you enjoyed this post (and I’m sorry it got so long, I’m extremely passionate about queer history and David) and I wish you all good health and happy days!
By Kezia Johnston
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