a set of six anonymous prints and it is difficult to say which prints these were. Classical guise in Augustine Carracci's The Aretin or Collection of Erotic Postures Several factors were used to cloak these engravings from Augustine Carracci's The Aretin or Collection of Erotic Postures in classical scholarly respectability: The images nominally depicted famous pairings of lovers (e.g. Antony and Cleopatra) or husband-and-wife deities (e.g. Jupiter and Juno) from classical history and mythology engaged in sexual activity, and were entitled as such. Related to this were: Portraying them with their usual attributes, such as: Cleopatra's banquets, bottom left Achilles's shield and helmet, bottom left Hercules in his lion-skin and club Mars with his cuirass Paris as a shepherd Bacchus with his vine-leaf crown and (bottom right) grapes Referring to the best known myths or historical events in which they appeared e.g.: Mars and Venus under the net which her husband Vulcan has designed to catch them 'Aeneas' and 'Dido' in the cave in which their sexual intercourse is alluded in Aeneid, Book 4 Theseus abandoning Ariadne on Naxos, where Bacchus finds and marries her. the wide adultery of Julia Messalina's participation in prostitution, as criticised in Juvenal's Satire VI. Referring to other Renaissance and classical tropes in the depiction of these people and deities, such as The contrast between Mars's dark hair and tanned skin and his partner Venus's untanned, fair skin and fair or even blond hair. Jupiter's full beard the frontispiece image is entitled Venus Genetrix, and the goddess is nude and drawn in a chariot by doves, as in the classical sources. the bodies of those depicted show clear influences from classical statuary known at the time, such as: the over-muscled torsos and backs of the men(drawn from sculptures such as the Laocoön and his Sons, Belvedere Torso, and Farnese Hercules). the women's clearly defined though small breasts (drawn from examples such as the Venus de' Medici and Aphrodite of Cnidus) the elaborate hairstyles of some of the women, such as his Venus, Juno or Cleopatra (derived from Roman Imperial era busts such as this one). Portraying the action in a classical 'stage set' such as an ancient Greek sanctuary or temple. The large erect penis on the statue of Priapus or Pan atop a puteal in 'The Cult of Priapus' is derived from examples in classical sculpture and painting (like this fresco) which were beginning