Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Amor: Parmigianino, 1535

Whop1

Click images or captions to view pages

Amor Parmigianino 1535
Amor: Parmigianino, 1535
Return

An "erastes", an adult man, when enamoured of a male youth, an "eromenos", he offered as a gift to the eromenos, a bird. The bird was often a cockerel. It became popular to use an Eagle to symbolize the idea of a ganymede.

Both Ganymedes and Cupids are pretty boys, and are often conflated together.

Often artistic works, sculpture or visual art such as paintings show flight, which is intended to symbolize the uplifting sensations of love. Thus scenes of Eagles raping a ganymede or a cupid figure intend not violence, but the pleasures of love.

Why an Eagle? An Eagle is a raptor, the name suggestive of rapture or to ravish, to enrapture.

Back

© Copyright 2006 - 2018    The Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg Trust     Website Terms of Use