Did you know? Giovanni Bazzi (self portrait), better known by the flamboyant nickname "Il Sodoma," was an Italian Renaissance painter who didn’t just tolerate gossip about his sexuality—he owned it. Born in 1477, he cheekily embraced the moniker "Sodoma," even weaving it into songs he sang while painting. While other artists cloaked their personal lives in discretion, Bazzi was living openly with male lovers and turning heads in the process. His frescoes, many of them religious, pulse with a sensual energy—nude figures rendered with such reverence and beauty that they blur the line between sacred and erotic. One of his most famous works, in the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, features dreamy-eyed young men whose bodies wouldn’t be out of place in a Tom of Finland sketch. Il Sodoma didn’t just paint like a Renaissance master—he lived like a queer icon centuries ahead of his time, scandalizing popes and delighting patrons. His legacy is a reminder that queer artists have always been here, brush in hand, living boldly and leaving their mark.