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Baron Corvo: Difference between revisions
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[ | [[File:Frederick William Rolfe, known as Baron Corvo , (1860 – 1913) English writer, artist and photographer.jpg|thumb|Baron Corvo]][[wikipedia:Frederick_Rolfe|'''Baron Corvo''']] is the assumed name of the English writer and photographer '''Frederick Rolfe''' (1860-1913). One of the most colorful characters of late Victorian times, Rolfe was a convert to Catholicism. In an effort to become a priest, he journeyed to Rome. The effort failed, but he formed a lifelong attachment to Italy--and to the boys he befriended there. | ||
Seeking to make a living as an independent writer, his finances were always precarious. Rolfe had a knack for finding patrons, but often fell out with them. Finally, out of money and out of luck, he died of a stroke in Venice. Rolfe's life provided the basis for ''The Quest for Corvo'', by [ | Seeking to make a living as an independent writer, his finances were always precarious. Rolfe had a knack for finding patrons, but often fell out with them. Finally, out of money and out of luck, he died of a stroke in Venice. Rolfe's life provided the basis for ''The Quest for Corvo'', by [[wikipedia:A._J._A._Symons|A. J. A. Symons]], an "experiment in biography" regarded as a minor classic in the field. | ||
Rolfe was entirely comfortable with his homosexuality and associated and corresponded with a number of other homosexual Englishmen. Rolfe's settled sexual preference was for late adolescents. Towards the end of his life he made his only explicit reference to his specific sexual age preference, in one of the Venice letters to Charles Masson Fox, in which he declared: "My preference was for the 16, 17, 18 and large." Grant Richards, in his ''Memories of a Misspent Youth'' (1932), recalls "Frederick Baron Corvo" at Parson's Pleasure in Oxford – where scholars could bathe naked – "surveying the yellow flesh tints of youth with unbecoming satisfaction". | Rolfe was entirely comfortable with his homosexuality and associated and corresponded with a number of other homosexual Englishmen. Rolfe's settled sexual preference was for late adolescents. Towards the end of his life he made his only explicit reference to his specific sexual age preference, in one of the Venice letters to Charles Masson Fox, in which he declared: "My preference was for the 16, 17, 18 and large." Grant Richards, in his ''Memories of a Misspent Youth'' (1932), recalls "Frederick Baron Corvo" at Parson's Pleasure in Oxford – where scholars could bathe naked – "surveying the yellow flesh tints of youth with unbecoming satisfaction". | ||
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Those of whom it is either speculated or surmised that they had sexual relations with Rolfe were all sexually mature young men between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one. In his literary works, Rolfe sought to characterize the relationships in his fiction as examples of 'Greek love' between an older man and an ephebe, thus endowing them with the sanction of the ancient Hellenic tradition familiar to all Edwardians of his era who possessed a classical education. | Those of whom it is either speculated or surmised that they had sexual relations with Rolfe were all sexually mature young men between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one. In his literary works, Rolfe sought to characterize the relationships in his fiction as examples of 'Greek love' between an older man and an ephebe, thus endowing them with the sanction of the ancient Hellenic tradition familiar to all Edwardians of his era who possessed a classical education. | ||
Today, his best-known work is [ | Today, his best-known work is [[wikipedia:Hadrian_the_Seventh|Hadrian the Seventh]] (1904), a fantasy novel in which an obscure literary Englishman, George Arthur Rose (evidently Rolfe himself), finds himself elected pope and assumes vast powers. ''Stories Toto Told Me'' (1898), a collection of six stories, later expanded to thirty-two stories and republished as ''In His Own Image'' (1901), follows ‘Don Friderico’ and his teenage acolytes as they embark on long walking tours in the Italian countryside. Traveling as far as Rome as the eastern coast of Italy, the youths’ leader - the sixteen-year-old Toto - recounts tales of saints behaving like pagan gods. The stories are richly Catholic and unashamedly superstitious. The saints who figure in them are hedonistic, vengeful and (though not licentious), entirely comfortable with nudity, which was diametrically opposite to any Protestant ideal of sainthood. | ||
Rolfe's homosexuality is more evident in his autobiographical novel ''Nicholas Crabbe'', and in his posthumous work ''The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole'' (1934). Boys were the favorite subjects of [ | Rolfe's homosexuality is more evident in his autobiographical novel ''Nicholas Crabbe'', and in his posthumous work ''The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole'' (1934). Boys were the favorite subjects of [[wikipedia:Frederick_Rolfe#Photography|Rolfe's photographs]], where he experimented with color and underwater photography. Rolfe also created a number of paintings and designs, including cover designs for some of his books, as well as some church paintings. | ||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
Latest revision as of 00:27, 21 October 2025
_English_writer,_artist_and_photographer.jpg)
Baron Corvo is the assumed name of the English writer and photographer Frederick Rolfe (1860-1913). One of the most colorful characters of late Victorian times, Rolfe was a convert to Catholicism. In an effort to become a priest, he journeyed to Rome. The effort failed, but he formed a lifelong attachment to Italy--and to the boys he befriended there.
Seeking to make a living as an independent writer, his finances were always precarious. Rolfe had a knack for finding patrons, but often fell out with them. Finally, out of money and out of luck, he died of a stroke in Venice. Rolfe's life provided the basis for The Quest for Corvo, by A. J. A. Symons, an "experiment in biography" regarded as a minor classic in the field.
Rolfe was entirely comfortable with his homosexuality and associated and corresponded with a number of other homosexual Englishmen. Rolfe's settled sexual preference was for late adolescents. Towards the end of his life he made his only explicit reference to his specific sexual age preference, in one of the Venice letters to Charles Masson Fox, in which he declared: "My preference was for the 16, 17, 18 and large." Grant Richards, in his Memories of a Misspent Youth (1932), recalls "Frederick Baron Corvo" at Parson's Pleasure in Oxford – where scholars could bathe naked – "surveying the yellow flesh tints of youth with unbecoming satisfaction".
Those of whom it is either speculated or surmised that they had sexual relations with Rolfe were all sexually mature young men between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one. In his literary works, Rolfe sought to characterize the relationships in his fiction as examples of 'Greek love' between an older man and an ephebe, thus endowing them with the sanction of the ancient Hellenic tradition familiar to all Edwardians of his era who possessed a classical education.
Today, his best-known work is Hadrian the Seventh (1904), a fantasy novel in which an obscure literary Englishman, George Arthur Rose (evidently Rolfe himself), finds himself elected pope and assumes vast powers. Stories Toto Told Me (1898), a collection of six stories, later expanded to thirty-two stories and republished as In His Own Image (1901), follows ‘Don Friderico’ and his teenage acolytes as they embark on long walking tours in the Italian countryside. Traveling as far as Rome as the eastern coast of Italy, the youths’ leader - the sixteen-year-old Toto - recounts tales of saints behaving like pagan gods. The stories are richly Catholic and unashamedly superstitious. The saints who figure in them are hedonistic, vengeful and (though not licentious), entirely comfortable with nudity, which was diametrically opposite to any Protestant ideal of sainthood.
Rolfe's homosexuality is more evident in his autobiographical novel Nicholas Crabbe, and in his posthumous work The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole (1934). Boys were the favorite subjects of Rolfe's photographs, where he experimented with color and underwater photography. Rolfe also created a number of paintings and designs, including cover designs for some of his books, as well as some church paintings.
External links
- John Champagne, (2024). Baron Corvo's Venice Letters and Modern Male Homosexuality, Journal of the History of Sexuality.
- Simon Gatrel, (2016). An Archaeologist’s Approach to Baron Corvo, English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920, Volume 59, Number 2, pp. 245-248. (Review).