#vincenzo galdi

Much as I love Vincenzo Galdi’s striking and often erotically charged photography, it is an equal delight to see him as a lovely young man modelling for his mentor, and lover, Guglielmo Plüschow. Few of the Arcadian photographers’ models became so involved in the process of creating images, and Galdi alone went on to work as a professional photographer in his own right. Here he sits in the ruined ancient Roman city of Pompeii, around 1895 - note his toes tucked neatly around the back of his calf!

Gracefully posed and charming eroticism at the turn of the last century - titled The Seduction, by Vincenzo Galdi.

How many times can I admit my weakness for handsome boys with flowers in their hair before you all expect it of me and cease to be at all surprised that I’ve found yet another of them? This example by Galdi, draped and garlanded with even more leaves and blooms than most.

feu-follet:

Boy covered with flowers, Vicenzo Galdi

I’m reasonably sure this is my particular favourite of Vincenzo Galdi’s beautiful male models once more, reaching an impressive seven photographs of him alone - perhaps he was a favourite of Mr Galdi, too. I say ‘alone’, as we also have the pleasure of seeing him in the company of another gentleman.

An intensely erotic, seductive portrait of the captivating Carlo, looking both utterly easily relaxed, and provocative - the angling of his hips and raised arm playing in his own hair, he seems to be proudly displaying that lovely body and inviting admiration. Do take a moment to view this full size, it’s an unusually large image and really something when you see him up close - those sultry dark lashes on closed lids, long lean curves, he’s beautiful from the ends of his curled fingers to the tips of his toes!

Delighted to discover a sixth picture of this young man, my favourite of Vincenzo Galdi’s splendid Italian models, with his intensely erotic sensual poses, handsome face, and beautiful body, he really does make the perfect model for inspiring both aesthetic appreciation and homoerotic lust. He would be the poster-boy for my collection was I not already so enamoured of the pretty little Victorian with flowers in his hair!

Vincenzo Galdi, photographed by Guglielmo Plüschow.

The story of these two photographers is fascinating, from Galdi being simply another handsome youth modelling for pictures, to developing an interest in photography and working alongside Plüschow, finally setting up on his own (though just a few doors down the street, their labels bearing the addresses Via Sardegna 34 and Via Sardegna 55). Accurately attributing work to the right man is near impossible while they collaborated, some copies of the same photographs are signed by one and some by the other.

A second gorgeous, deeply homoerotic Galdi photograph from a matching pair (perhaps, we might hope, from a larger set with further delights still to be discovered), the first to be seen here. Again one young man of outstanding natural beauty lies in languid abandon, displaying his masculine perfection with a certain shameless confidence, while his more modest companion looks on in quiet admiration.

Adding to my ever-growing little collection of Vincenzo Galdi as model not photographer, this sweet shot from the 1890s, a dash more decorous than most as he covers more than he reveals.

Another sumptuous photograph by Vincenzo Galdi, always making the extra effort to dress his sets most wonderfully with richly detailed fabrics, furs, and striking foliage behind. Their poses have a charming casual air, here, almost an off-duty moment as they relax before the camera.

I’m pleased to present a couple more photographs of Carlo, a model who may be familiar to those who have followed the progress of this collection for a while - misplaced among my many finds I had neglected to share these last shots from the same set.

With the distinctive tan lines of the outdoor worker and the ever so endearing imperfection of his dishevelled hair, this fine figure of a man was photographed in the early 20th Century by Vincenzo Galdi.

Our familiar Roman Sandal Boys again. At first glance I was somewhat confused by the arrangement of arms here as I took both raised hands as belonging to the boy on the right - giving him an unusually flexible forearm, and his companion an alarmingly disembodied hand upon his shoulder! 

Speaking of Galdi, here is the handsome young man himself, on the right. His friend Edoardo models with him in several other photographs, most notably this one which I’ve seen credited as the first kiss between two men to be recorded on camera - I hope this is true, as it is such a charming example! 

By Guglielmo Plüschow, Naples, before 1895.

Vincenzo Galdi, photographed on Posillipo hill near Naples, by Guglielmo Plüschow. It’s quite curious seeing someone I so often mention here as a photographer, instead being the model - but he was a photogenic little thing in his youth, wasn’t he!

A soulful and quite lovely portrait by Vincenzo Galdi, just after the turn of the last century. A kind submission from reader Ken, who cunningly worked out the date of my birthday and sent in this fine photograph as a gift (and suggests it is the same handsome model as seen here).

One of Vincenzo Galdi’s deliberately suggestive male nudes, the pose though looking a little uncomfortable is undoubtedly provocative. I wonder whether - as with Carlo who so flirtatiously flaunts his charms before Galdi’s camera - this was also photograph taken specifically for his lover, or intended for a wider audience who’d appreciate such a sight.

The sweetly ruffled-looking Carlo, so lazily at ease, almost bored - Rome 1906, by Vincenzo Galdi. I have posted more from this set here, for those new to my collection and such lovely models who have become particular favourites.

A youthful Vincenzo Galdi modelling most charmingly for Guglielmo Plüschow, in the late 19th Century. His creative progression - from model, to assistant, to photographer in his own right, and finally gallery owner - makes for an inspiring story, and I find these early images so artistically recording the first stage in his lifelong passion truly fascinating as well as lovely to look upon.

Even the faintly ridiculous costume cannot detract our attention (nor that, it seems, of the model himself) from the fact this man is magnificently, wondrously, well-endowed. Nicknamed, for obvious reasons, Il Serpente (‘The Snake’), an admiring Vincenzo Galdi employed his talents many a time, the resulting pictures varying from the tastefully artistic to the deliberately pornographic. We’ve even seen him in the extraordinary guise of cigarette-smoking clown before. A true star of early gay erotica.