On the Trail of a Lover Boy in the Age of Enlightenment

Thanks for this review. Makes me sorry that I missed it at the Legion of Honor.

That paragraph about "the Useless Resistance" sums up everything about rape culture (it's such a perfect example, I might use it in class): first our male critic decides that the expression on the woman's face is a smile, which is not at all how I read it; then he decides on the basis of that ambiguous facial expression that she wants to have sex with this man who she is physically trying to push off of her. "Judge, she was asking for it." "But wasn't she trying to get away?" "Yeah, but she was smiling while she was trying to run away, so I know she was into it." Dudes, take note: if a woman is physically trying to push you away, that's a way more reliable indicator of whether she wants you than whether you think the expression on her face might be a smile.

To be fair, Casanova admits he was ready to marry the girl who he discovered to be his daughter, but never had sex with her until much later when she begged him to - with permission of her husband - father her child. After reading Casanova's autobiography, wherein he admits his worst flaws and vices, I felt that I had delved deeply into his psyche and, when the book ended, I felt I had lost a friend. If you are interested in Casanova, but feel daunted by the autobiography, you can read Sabatini's summary of some of his most famous adventures. Sabatini translated these for the reading public when the autobiography was still only available to read in German.

I haven't seen the show and have never seen the Ramsay Rousseau, so I only have the photo in the Times to go on, but from that perspective, "glowering" and "stern" are not the words that come to mind (nor are they suggested by the Confessions). More like "mischievous" or "knowing." He has the second-most ambiguous smile I have seen in a painting. What is he thinking, about his time and ours?

This review does justice to the exhibition, good work!

I saw the exhibit at the MFA and I enjoyed it so much that I went a second time and will probably go a 3rd time. I learned a lot about the history. I was also impressed by the tolerance of Venetians that transpires from many paintings of Canaletto.

Nice article, but please note women religious (technically nuns only if they are cloistered) do not receive holy orders. They take vows.

There was no proof that Mimi Quison was her daughter. No proof at that time. It's just a possibility. Not a certainty.

"But human freedom, more than any carnal lust, was the 18th century’s most immoderate desire." I realize we're looking past little things like the slave trade here -- or even the state of "freedom" among the unwashed free -- but still....

Morality is the ancient enemy of reason. It’s no accident that the Age of Enlightenment was also an age of sexual exploration and freedom.