Lesbian (In)Visibility in Italian Renaissance Culture:

Abstract

Current conceptualizations of sexual identity in the West are not necessarily useful to an historian investigating "lesbianism" in the social history and visual representations of different periods. After an overview of Renaissance documents treating donna con donna relations which examines the potentially positive effects of condemnation and silence, the paper focuses on Diana, the goddess of chastity, who bathed with her nymphs as an exemplar of female bodies preserved for heterosexual, reproductive pleasures. Yet the self-sufficiency and bodily contact sometimes represented in images of this secluded all-female gathering might suggest "deviant" responses from their viewers.

Curating Queer Heritage: Queer Knowledge and Museum Practice

“…When it came to lesbian visual culture, however, my insights were limited. Turning to friends and asking around, I learned about the pleasures of viewing images of Venus bathing with her nymphs, and was told stories of images of Diana, goddess of the hunt, and her all‐female and allegedly chaste hunting company, which were reportedly pinned to young girls’ bedroom walls (see Rand 1994; Simons 1994). Asking the curators of the National Museum for imagery that might be considered lesbian and gay, or that included icons such as Jeanne d’Arc, however, proved to be somewhat problematic.…”

Beyond Tribadism: Alternate Discourses on Female Homoeroticism in Greek and Latin Literature

“…In any study that touches upon ancient (homo)sexuality, one must make it very clear what one is and is not discussing. It is by now a hackneyed gesture to distinguish between modern 'homosexuality' and the ancient sex/gender system 2 See, for example, Simons (1994), Diana's band in early modern art; Traub (2002), 229-275, the Callisto myth in the early modern period; Sheriff (1998), Callisto in early modern art; Heslin (2005), 1-56, appropriations of the Achilles on Scyros myth; Carver (1998b), a Renaissance reinterpretation of the Leucippus myth. 3 Traub (2002), 229-275 and passim, demonstrates how the early modern notion of chaste female friendship, representation of which drew heavily on the Callisto myth, contributed to the formation of the sexological category of lesbianism.…”

“…Rimell (2006), 205.5 SeeSimons (1994), passim;Sheriff (1998);and Traub (2002), 270-275.6 Heslin (2005), 52-55.7 Clark (1996), 41. Kallista may just represent the superlative of kalos, but Lister's classical education provides a further resonance with the Callisto myth, as Clark suggests.…”