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Illustrations for Les sonnets luxurieux de l’Aretin by Édouard-Henri Avril

In 1904, Édouard-Henri Avril (1849–1928) was awarded his first large-scale commission to produce sixteen erotic illustrations for an edition of Les sonnets luxurieux de l’Aretin.

The sonnets by Pietro Aretino (1492–1556), written in the mid 1520s are better known as I Modi (the modes or postures) because each portrayed a man and a woman having intercourse in a different position.

Édouard-Henri Avril (1849–1928) used the pseudonym Paul Avril to produce his exquisitely rendered erotica. He studied at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts and first began exhibiting in 1878.

The 1904 edition of Les sonnets luxurieux illustrated by Avril, was published in a limited numbered edition of 500 copies.

Illustrations