Wilhelm Von Plüschow discovered & featured this young model (nicknamed “il Serpente” meaning serpent because of his “generous male sex”) during his early Roman career.
An elegantly late teenage “il Serpente” reclines portraying himself in a Renaissance styled “Venus as a boy” on Von Plüschow’s empire style settee which featured in many of his Rome productions, starting in 1895.
Two plates featuring Von Plüschow’s model “il Serpente” (in repose) on a beach in Naples. judging by his age would indicate Von Ps Naples period which began about 1880.
Surviving in folded postcard form, from the Rome studio of Vincenzo Galdi, 1900-07 the model nicknamed “il Serpente” (the serpent) displaying his talent for performing the Ouraboros (a mythological serpent depicted consuming it’s own tail) on which his nickname is surely based.
Il Serpente often had to hide his generous endowment when he wanted to play younger or innocent, as in this picture from Galdi studios, however, Vincenzo Galdi was much freer with the penis in his other works.
Great photos from another time!
Incredible really!