What’s new
The erotic works of Pierre Louÿs
23rd March 2017
BiographyPierre Louÿs (1870–1925) was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who sought to express pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection.
Pierre Louÿs was born Pierre Félix Louis on 10 December 1870 in Ghent… read more
The inspiration of King Pausole
23rd March 2017
Pierre Louÿs’ novel Les aventures du Roi Pausole (The Adventures of King Pausole), first published in 1900, might at first glance look like an eighteenth century parody in the style of Voltaire or Diderot. However, Pausole was very much a contemporary work. The king of the country of Tryphême was a… read more
I Modi – the archetypal Italian Renaissance erotic portfolio
23rd February 2017
Pietro Aretino’s Sonetti Lussuriosi (Lustful Sonnets) or I Modi (The Positions), as you will discover when you read about them below, hold a unique position in erotic literature, and in erotic illustration. For many years they were the benchmark, both actual and perceived, for the most daring,… read moreImportant recent updates
✨ Illustrator and portfolio lists
One of the most common requests we get (and the responses to the recent questionnaire confirm this) is that it would be really useful to have complete listings of all the artists and portfolios on the website – as of May 2026 728 artists and 2,003 portfolios!
So we’ve listened and heard … and by following this link you will find files with these listings in alphabetical order (and where there are several portfolios with the same name their artists will be in order too). The lists are in PDF format, so you can download, save and search them. They duplicate what you can already find in the artist and portfolio listings on the website, but if you’re really into erotic art and illustration and would like a quick ready reference, you should find these invaluable. Enjoy!
✨ Helping you to find your way around
You asked for it, we’ve done it – all the artists on the site now have a set of ‘Similar artists’ links at the end of their biography, so whether it’s bookplate artists, spanking artists, gay artists, whatever, you can cruise easily from artist to similar artist. Have fun!
✨ Hans-Jürgen Döpp, 1940–2025
Few people have shared their wisdom, experience – and wonderful collection of erotic art – more than Hans-Jürgen Döpp, who sadly died last year at the age of 84. For more than half a century Hans-Jürgen devoted himself to the study and collection of erotic art, not as a marginal curiosity or a private indulgence, but as an essential part of human culture. Through his work as a scholar, teacher, curator, author and collector, he helped establish erotic art as a serious field of artistic and historical enquiry. He was an enthusiastic supporter of honesterotica, sharing more than 200 of his portfolios with us, helping to make the website a unique resource of erotic art that would otherwise have been lost to the world. Read our tribute to Hans-Jürgen here.
✨ The difficult mirror
Artists, childhood, and the challenge of looking
At a time of growing concern about online child safety, we are very aware of how we handle the sensitive subject of depictions of children in art, especially ‘erotic art’. We have added an important Themes and Topics article here, which helps explore how artists over time have depicted naked children, and why it is as important to think seriously about what art is for and how we look at and experience it as about what is actually being depicted. Read the piece and see what you think.