Ganymede with Jupiter's Eagle

After Bertel Thorvaldson, "Ganymede with Jupiter's Eagle," 1817.

Produced as a parian porcelain sculpture in the Victorian era for home display, this portrayal of the myth of Ganymede and Jupiter’s Eagle was one of many replicated from a much larger original marble sculpture. According to myth, the god Jupiter used the guise of an eagle to ask the mortal Ganymede to serve as cupbearer to the gods at Mount Olympia. Jupiter’s infatuation with Ganymede, the subject of the parian above, raises questions to Victorian desires to incorporate same-sex art themes within the confines of their homes.

Since same-sex love was criminalized in England up until the 1860’s, this parian comments on Victorian politics and sexuality. Like Jupiter’s divine sexual hierarchy over mortal Ganymede, the parian illustrates the subtleties of homosexual relationships between the Victorian aristocrats and the gentry.