Caravaggio Seminars: The Matter of Caravaggio’s Sexuality

Jeffrey Fraiman (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco)

Among the public, the matter of Caravaggio’s sexuality—his homoerotics, his sexual practices, his queerness—is seen as a given, understood instinctually by new generations of viewers, commentators, and artists. Within the vast art historical literature on the artist, which concerns itself with seemingly endless minutiae, the subject has either been ignored, given short shrift, or, perhaps worst, polemically refuted with deleterious, chilling effect. Taking into account the preponderance of archival, visual, and contextual evidence, this talk situates the topic of Caravaggio’s sexuality, including his relationship with the younger artist Cecco, within today’s discourse on expanded, inclusive narratives within European art, forcefully making the case for why Caravaggio’s sexuality matters.

Jeffrey Fraiman is Assistant Curator at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, responsible for the museum’s collection of European sculpture. From 2015 to 2022, he worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he was co-editor of the museum’s collection catalogue of Italian bronze statuettes (2022) and contributed to exhibitions on Valentin de Boulogne, Michelangelo, and Walt Disney. A specialist in Italian Baroque art, he holds a PhD from Rutgers University.

Please join us for a thought-provoking seminar. Dinner to follow. RSVP to hilary_field@fas.harvard.edu.

Supported by the Committee for the Provostial Fund for the Arts and Humanities and the Department of History of Art and Architecture.