What a beautiful classically-inspired scene from von Gloeden; quite typical of his work, and quite lovely!
Two fine young men pose nude (but for the pair of Roman sandals), in the cloister of the abandoned San Domenico monastery, 1902. We have seen the stunning model on the left before, here.
Photographed by Vincenzo Galdi at the end of the 19th century, this portrait in classical style features an early appearance - indeed perhaps the very first! - by a fine young man who would soon find his fame in far more explicit and erotic images; we know him as Il Serpente.
Another prominent application of leaves to censor the image, yet these are artificial artistic renditions, added in the development stage to cover those parts thought inappropriate for publishing! I wish I could read the small handwritten lines along the lower edge, can anyone make out what the words say?
One of von Gloeden’s classic group photographs, three young men of Taormina stand with an easy, natural grace and unaffected confidence - I particularly like the casual cross-legged leaning of the handsome fellow on the right.
It seems but a short while since I posted a grateful celebration of attaining five hundred and fifty five followers, with this wonderful photograph by von Gloeden, though it has in fact been a year - and one year on, we stand at an incredible five thousand! I am amazed and delighted, not to mention a little overwhelmed, by the appreciation and popularity my little collection has found, and thank every one of you for your interest, your kind comments & passing on of the images you have most enjoyed, and the submissions which you have shared with me and all my dear readers.
It proved difficult to track down another photograph, not yet featured, which included five models; eventually I ended up with another by the same photographer, Wilhelm von Gloeden, with one of his fine classical scenes of sun-drenched elegance upon the terrace.
A trio of handsome Sicilian models photographed by Guglielmo Plüschow around the turn of the century - a joy to see such timelessly beautiful faces captured in their youthful glory, though their looks will change with time, their picture preserves the perfection of their early manhood forever.
A beautiful arrangement of four young men by Guglielmo Plüschow (also known as Wilhelm von Plüschow before he adopted the locals’ conversion of his name to the Italian form), from the end of the 19th Century.
A Wilhelm von Gloeden photograph of luminous beauty, one flower-adorned youth gazes upon a companion with a vase of traditional design, nothing of the modern era intruding to distract from the Arcadian ideal.
Yet another glorious photograph by Wilhelm von Gloeden, three poised and beautiful young men pose together on the hillside, the wide open sky allowing each boy to stand out and be admired. The wonderfully natural fluid poses here, and the intimate interlinking of fingers, show how uninhibited the models were, how happy to disrobe and display. Look again at how they stand, each of these in isolation could be a classical statue, so elegant and easy.
Oh, do not draw upon the archaeology, sir! Luckily for all those who detest the desecration of ancient sites, this is a staged scene - the graffiti almost as old as the wall it marks. Part of Guglielmo Plüschow’s fine photoshoot in Pompeii, his models acting out scenes from the everyday lives of those who made their homes here so many centuries before.
A fine image by Guglielmo Plüschow, once more using the ruins of classical Rome as the ideal backdrop to timeless male beauty - what an exquisitely formed bottom, perfectly peachy-round and smooth!
I had just begun to consider what I might post to mark our reaching the pleasantly amusing total of 3,333 followers, when there happened a veritable flood of new attention overnight, and I find we now sit at a quite remarkable 3,435 already! So now my intended theme of trio photographs is a little inaccurately placed. Welcome, new readers, nonetheless!
Photographed in the cool shade with an assortment of antiquated props, two slim strong Sicilian youths - one appears to be finding the modelling session considerably more tiresome than the other!
Oath of the Horatii, photographed in the 19th Century by Emile Antoine Bayard (1837-1891), their modesty preserved by leaves.
