The Crusader by George Quaintance (1943).
Continuing an occasional series, I was hoping to find the original photo which George Quaintance used as a model for this painting but failed dismally. I did find the photo below, however, a piece of Roman camp by beefcake photographer Alonzo Hanagan, aka ‘Lon of New York’ on this Boy Culture post where Hanagan is interviewed about his work.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The men with swords archive
• The gay artists archive
The Roman camp seems more 19th Century Napoleonic era to me – I’m fairly sure that’s a French cavalryman’s helmet and sword. Mind you, I like the broken column – metaphor for detumescence?
Yes, I did nearly write “Classical camp” which is probably more fitting since these things are so vague, and the Napoleonic era is the Neoclassical period. Anachronisms are a hallmark of this kind of thing.
these nude men with sword,do’nt are named also “spartan”?
I know the name of the model who posed for the Lon photo, who was introduced to Quaintance, who used the photo for his painting.
Hi Rimavincus. If I’d have been more diligent I would have noticed that the answer to the model’s identity was in the George Quaintance book I’ve had for a while. It was Fred Boisiewick who also posed for other paintings.