Sex Life of Michelangelo

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Michelangelo made religion sexy.

That may not have been his initial aim, of course, but the way he portrayed the human form, and particularly the male form, was extremely beautiful.

How did his devout Catholic faith create conflict with his well-known attraction to men? How was it expressed in his incredible artwork? And how was sexuality viewed in Renaissance Italy?

Joining Kate today is historian and Michelangelo scholar at Stanford University, Sarah Prodan, to help us get to know this man better. You can find out more about Sarah's work here: https://www.sarahprodan.com/

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

If you'd like to get in touch with the show you can contact us at [email protected].

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm your host, Kate Lister.
0:02.4	If you would like betwixt the sheets, add free and get early access, sign up to History Hit.
0:08.7	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of original documentaries with top history presenters.
0:16.0	And enjoy a new release every single week.
0:19.8	Sign up now by visiting history hit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:24.5	Hello, my lovely Bertwixters.
0:26.8	It's me, Kate Lister, and you are listening to Bertwix the Sheets.
0:31.3	And I'm so glad that you are.
0:32.4	But before we can be allowed to continue any further on our little journey together,
0:36.7	I have to tell you.
0:38.0	This is an adult podcast, book, and by adults, other adults about adult things and an
0:41.0	adulty way covering a range of adult subjects and used to be an adult too. And we call that the
0:45.0	fair do's warning because, well, fair do's. We have told you it's a bit of a spicy one.
0:50.4	If you keep listening and get upset, well, that's on you, quite frankly. Right, on with the show.
0:59.4	Walk lightly betwixters. We do not want to draw attention to ourselves. It's 1510 and I have
1:06.0	snuck us into the Sistine Chapel to see how Michelangelo is getting on with this ceiling painting he's
1:12.5	been banging on about.
1:17.3	And yet, to be fair, that is not half bad, Mike. That is not bad at all. Well, that's my
1:24.8	artistic review anyway. But also, you would have to say that Catholicism
1:30.5	has never looked quite this sexy. The creation of Adam's section looks like a scene from the
1:37.5	local bathhouses. I'm not sure how he's managed it, but it's remarkable, sexy and pious
1:44.1	all at the same time.
	...

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