Historic spanking art

Historic spanking art is spanking art that is older than 100 years. The earliest known works of visual spanking art and mention of spanking in literature date back to the ancient high civilisations in Egypt, Greece, Rome, Israel, Persia and India.

Antiquity

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  Wall painting from Tomba della Fustigazione, Italy.

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  Worker being punished, from the tomb of Menna, Egypt.

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  Copy of a roman fresco

Visual spanking art from antiquity is usually a factual and neutral documentation of corporal punishment as it was common in those days. Often it shows the chastisement of slaves or workers; occasionally also the beating or flogging of minors, e.g. by their teachers. Media used include painting, drawing, relief and sculpture.

The image to the right shows a wall painting from the Etruscan Tomba della Fustigazione (Italy) from the 6th century BC. The image below shows a supervisor beating a worker with a stick, from the tomb of Menna in Egypt, approximately 1400-1390 BC.

A fresco at Herculaneum depicts school Corporal punishment shows a teacher whipping a schoolboy. The boy, who is stripped nude except for his waistcloth, is horsed on the back of one other boy who holds his arms, while a third boy holds his feet so that he is completely suspended and cannot kick his legs during his punishment. Several other men and boys witness the scene.

Middle Ages

Medieval spanking art, too, is usually a factual documentation of corporal punishment of the time, showing e.g. the public flogging or birching of criminals, or chastisement in monasteries and schools. While in the middle ages the art of sculpture, compared to antiquity, is on a much lower level, first artistic reproduction techniques, such as the woodcut, begin to grow popular.

The woodcut to the right by an unknown artist shows a school birching scene. The disciple is laid over a birching block and two other boys hold his hands and feet. His garments are pushed up to expose the boy's bare bottom for his birching. He tries with one hand to cover his bottom from the strokes. The inscription reads initium sapientie timor domini - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10).

An example of 14th century spanking art is an illuminated initial showing the birching of a boy from the "Omne Bonum" of Jacobus Anglicus.

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  Medieval woodcut showing a school birching

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Renaissance

It seems Renaissance artists loved to depict particularly one spanking scene from greek-roman mythology: Cupid (also known as Eros or Amor), getting punished by his mother Venus, the goddess of beauty.

The first example is one of many artworks that shows the classic scene of Venus, the goddess of beauty, punishing her son, the winged Cupid who, to her displeasure, shoots arrows that make people fall in love. In this 17th century engraving by Giovanni Luigi Valesio, Venus uses a bunch of roses to "birch" Cupid while a satyr apparently tries to hold her back.

The image on the right shows another example of the same classic theme. In this lithography by an unknown artist, Venus gives her son an over-the-knee hand-spanking under a tree after she has broken his bow in two.

This 18th century engraving from England shows a monk chastising a young woman who is on all fours (between his legs) on her bare bottom with a horsehair flogger for penance. By the way, it also shows an early example of a balloon very similar to those used in modern comics.

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  Cupid Punished by Venus, Giovanni Luigi Valesio, 17th century.

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  Venus giving Cupid a hand-spanking.

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  Penance, engraving by an unknown English artist, 18th century.

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  Der erste Schultag, painting by Johann Peter Hasenclever (1852).

Modernity

In the 19th century, some artists began creating spanking art cartoons that show an increasingly point-of-view approach, such as criticizing the overuse of corporal punishment in parenting, or using the symbolism of spanking in political satire or humor.

There are also a few artworks in a painterly style that depict spanking scenes, such as the school scene in the painting to the right from 1852.

See also

• Historic illustrations: schools and teaching
• Contemporary spanking art

Links

• History of Spanking Art

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