Do angels make love? Will the souls of ordinary people feel sexual pleasure in the next world? Is the aspiration to spiritual salvation helped or hindered by sexual experience? In Heaven and the Flesh Clive Hart and Kay Stevenson explore the opinions of poets and painters on such questions, from the high Renaissance to the birth of romanticism. Hart and Stevenson analyse the work not only of canonical writers and artists, such as Milton and Michelangelo, but also of lesser-known figures such as John Gore and Richard Tompson, and the sometimes anguished speculations of philosophers and theologians. As the evidence of witty pornographic poems and drawings demonstrates, the relationship between sexual desire and spiritual ascension was not always treated with full seriousness. This wide-ranging survey offers sometimes surprising insights into material both familiar and unfamiliar.

The book studies the relationship between sexual desire and spiritual ascension in art and writing from Renaissance to Romanticism.
Reviews
"...a fresh perspective on religious imagery (both visual and verbal)....a lucid interweaving of Milton and Caravaggio with frankly pornographic poetry and book illustrations. Hart and Stevenson should be commended for their unabashed discussion of sexualized religious imagery....an extremely refreshing presentation..." Choice
"Among the handsomest book of the season is Heaven and the Flesh: Imagery of Desire from the Renaissance to the Rococo, by Clive Hart and Kay Gilliland Stevenson." Studies in English Literature



Book Information
ISBN 9780521495714
Author Clive Hart
Format Hardback
Page Count 254
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 740g
Dimensions(mm) 256mm * 181mm * 18mm