Zeus's Beloved

Although it is generally acknowledged that homosexuality experienced renewed popularity as a topic of artistic investigation during the Italian Renaissance, the prevalence and purport of homoeroticism in the works of the era’s male artists have been subjects of greater speculation. This paper focuses specifically on representations of the Greek mythological figure Ganymede, whose tradition as an icon for homosexual desire can be traced back to antiquity. In my analysis of the Ganymedean iconography used by artists like Donatello and Michelangelo, I exemplify how homoerotic subtext reveals itself in Renaissance art through mythological imagery. To ground my visual analyses within the artworks’ historical context, I also refer to classical and Renaissance literature to identify contemporary ideas about love between men, which were shaped by the rise of Neoplatonism and its glorification of Greek pederasty. Identifying the homoeroticism in Renaissance illustrations of the Zeus and Ganymede myth thus upholds the latter’s status as an iconic figure in the history of queer art. More importantly, however, this paper’s analysis demonstrates that Ganymede’s iconographic function was ultimately to visually reinforce the resurrected Florentine version of pederasty and the troubling power imbalance of its lover-beloved relationship model.