DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31769#0095
Attributed to
Cesar de Sesto
(School of Leo-
nardo da Vinci)
Leda and the Swan
In the tempestuous Aegean in the lap of Thetis
one can see the genital rod received. 74
Poliziano does not directly describe the castrating of
Uranus here, but only mentions his amputated member
— fusto genitale — which then fell into the sea. The
poet’s choice of words is significant. In Italian the noun
fusto means both the stem of a plant and a reed, while
the Latin original wotdfustis means a cudgel or a stick.
Thus, in his choice of words, the poet is alluding to
Uranus’s still erect member, and it may be assumed that
Botticelli’s bulrushes are an echo of this phallic allusion.
The phallic associations of the bulrush in Botticelli’s
painting, which were perhaps inspired by Poliziano’s
choice of words, are also found in other sources. 7? Be-
sides literary confirmation of the erotic connotations
of the bulrush, there is also a pictorial tradition. Thus,
96
Cesar de Sesto
(School of Leo-
nardo da Vinci)
Leda and the Swan
In the tempestuous Aegean in the lap of Thetis
one can see the genital rod received. 74
Poliziano does not directly describe the castrating of
Uranus here, but only mentions his amputated member
— fusto genitale — which then fell into the sea. The
poet’s choice of words is significant. In Italian the noun
fusto means both the stem of a plant and a reed, while
the Latin original wotdfustis means a cudgel or a stick.
Thus, in his choice of words, the poet is alluding to
Uranus’s still erect member, and it may be assumed that
Botticelli’s bulrushes are an echo of this phallic allusion.
The phallic associations of the bulrush in Botticelli’s
painting, which were perhaps inspired by Poliziano’s
choice of words, are also found in other sources. 7? Be-
sides literary confirmation of the erotic connotations
of the bulrush, there is also a pictorial tradition. Thus,
96