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A Randy Royal's Baroque Porn

DW staff (win)February 28, 2005

Saxony's most famous king, August the Strong (1670-1733), has long been acknowledged as a supporter of the arts. But the eastern German ruler also had an eye for raunchy drawings, as an exhibition in Dresden shows.

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Playboy's predecessorImage: Staatl. Kunstsammlung Dresden

King August created Dresden's world-famous Zwinger Palace and founded the Meissen porcelain manufacture, which still produces exquisite dishes to this day.

Kupferstich-Kabinett - Der Satyrmaurer
"Satyr with solder" (1590/1595)Image: Staatl. Kunstsammlungen Dresden

While most Germans would happily have a Meissen creation sit on their dinner table or mantlepiece, they might feel a little uneasy about displaying another kind of art associated with the Saxon monarch: Baroque porn engravings that depict everything from lustful men caressing women's breasts to an aroused satyr swinging a soldering iron over a woman's private parts.

Kupferstich-Kabinett - Der Planet Venus
"Planet Venus" (1596)Image: Staatl. Kunstsammlung Dresden

"The intimate character of small-scale printed graphics -- generally the work of men -- afforded a voyeuristic close-up of the opposite sex," according to the museum's press release. "Mythological and biblical stories served as the pretext for erotic and pornographic depictions as well as sadistic fantasies."

Kupferstich - Kabinett - Der Tod und die schlafende Frau
"Death and the Sleeping Beauty" (1548)Image: Staatl. Kunstsammlung Dresden

The pictures -- 230 in total -- stem from the Collection of Prints, Drawings and Photography at Dresden's Royal Palace and were made between the 15th and 16th centuries. They were meant to, well, stimulate the "well-situated male clientele" at the time.

Der goldene Reiter in Dresden
August the Strong still watches over his city as the "Golden Rider"Image: AP

For August the Strong, they certainly seem to have done the trick: He is rumored to have fathered 365 children with dozens of mistresses.