historic erotic art:
Today’s piece of historic erotic art comes to us from 1890 and is the loving family portrait of Gustav Sabac el Cher and Gertrud Perlig by German artist Emil Doerstling which is entitled “Prussian Happy Love”. (1) Though most entries in this erotic art project are fully explicit, love is an aspect of sexuality, and all art that gets left out of the history books is of interest to this project.
Gustav’s father, August Sabac el Cher, was an orphan given as a “gift” to a visiting Prussian prince at the age of 7 by the Egyptian viceroy. (2) Despite being totally uprooted at such a young age, August (and eventually his son, pictured above, Gustav), went on to thrive as he was given access to the all of the benefits of Prussian nobility including education, contacts, money, and high social standing. August, and ultimately his son, Gustav, went on to join the military and rise through the ranks with Gustav (pictured) eventually becoming imperial bandmaster. Both enjoyed close ties with the court and married German women, with Gustav marrying Gertrud Perlig (pictured) and going on to have two children with her. (3)
This portrait is as remarkable for the obvious depth of love and affection between the two figures as it is for depicting an openly loving and high status relationship that was possible to flourish in Europe while it would have been nearly impossible in America at the same time. In this scene, Gustav sits in his Prussian military uniform with one arm around Gertrud while Gertrud wraps both arms around her husband, both with their heads resting upon the other and happy, deeply loving smiles on their faces.
NOTE - The 3rd citation below is an excellent and in depth while brief history of the el Cher family, including their fate under the Nazi’s, and is highly recommended to anyone interested in this remarkable family.
REFERENCE / FURTHER READING
(1) WIKIMEDIA: “Doerstling - Preußisches Liebesglück”
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Doerstling_-_Preu%C3%9Fisches_Liebesgl%C3%BCck.jpg
(2) BLACK PAST: “Sabac el Cher, August A. (1836?–1885)”
http://www.blackpast.org/gah/sabac-el-cher-august-1836-1885
(3) BLACK PAST: “Sabac el Cher, Gustav Albrecht (1868-1934)“
http://www.blackpast.org/gah/sabac-el-cher-gustav-albrecht-1868-1934
WIKIPEDIA: “Emil Doerstling” (translated version)
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fde.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEmil_Doerstling&edit-text=&act=url
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