I Modi: The Sixteen Pleasures: An Erotic Album of the Italian Renaissance

“The I modi, published here for the first time in English, is an extremely important—almost unique—document for the history of human behavior in general and for the customs and culture of the Italian Renaissance in particular…The extraordinary depictions of sixteen modes of lovemaking and the sonnets reproduced, translated, and discussed here have their roots and genesis in the earlier arts of Europe and in the great resurgence of artistic activity during the early Renaissance. In turn, both the images and the poetic words exerted a significant influence on the later developments of the arts, especially in the various fields of the decorative arts and of erotic poetry. In the short time since the publication of I modi in modern Italian (1984), it has already been recognized as a source for a number of artistic creations of the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries…[Lynne Lawner has] recovered, republished, and thus revived this hidden treasure not only for the specialists but for mankind.” —From the foreword by George Szabo