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Sunday, March 21, 2010

Lira da Braccio

The source for this piece is The Treasury of Fantastic and Mythological Creatures by Richard Huber. This particular image is labeled "Grotesque face and female torso, from the body of a lira da braccio by Giovanni d'Andrea, Verona, 1511."



The lira da braccio was a violin-like stringed instrument of the Renaissance and since Giovanni d'Andrea the maker of lira da braccios lacks a Wikipedia page, I can only assume he was a pornographer who liked to combine images of bearded men and female breasts to whip the players of his instruments into an erotic frenzy.