Original sentence: Naked boys could be seen on any riverbank or seashore, but the eroticisation of children was every bit as much a cultural artefact of Caravaggio's day as it is of ours.Richard Symonds, an English visitor to Rome about 1649/51, recorded the Cupid as being "ye body and face of his (Caravaggio's) owne boy or servant thait (sic) laid with him" - bearing in mind that "laid with" in 17th century English could sometimes mean simply "lived with"
Edited sentence: Naked boys could be seen on any riverbank or seashore, and the eroticisation of children is very much a cultural artefact of the present-day rather than Caravaggio's.Richard Symonds, an English visitor to Rome about 1649/51, recorded the Cupid as being "ye body and face of his (Caravaggio's) owne boy or servant thait (sic) laid with him" - bearing in mind that "laid with" in 17th century English meant simply "lived with"