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| Dean Cornwell - The Slave Market |
This is how conventional artists visualise a slave market. Although the stereotypical Arab slaver is much in evidence in this picture, it's actually Roman citizens who are salivating over the meat on offer. Not without reason, he's a bit of a hunk if you get rid of his Alice band. If I were that way inclined I might think the the woman descending the steps is even sexier, she's certainly being marketed better. The man sports what can only be described as a baggy loin cloth, but he is puffing his chest out as if he wants to be purchased by someone who appreciates manly characteristics.
Dean Cornwell was a prominent illustrator in the first half of the 20th Century treading similar ground to Leyendecker but without the subversive eroticism. This image is from his series, 'The Robe' and thus robes itself in Biblical authenticity but it's really just another turn of the century, Middle East fantasy. Quite why he's put a man on the podium instead of the usual female I can't think, but we should all be grateful.
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