Painters Left Scret Codes in Their Work To Signal They Were Gay.

Of course this was when homosexuality was still a crime, These subtle hints could include a pair of doves or a peacock feather. These coy signs also included pink flowers, such as the one Aubrey Vincent Beardsley tucked into his jacket lapel in an 1895 portrait by Jacques-Emile Blanche. Beardsley, whose own sexual orientation remains a mystery, used his clothes as a show of solidarity for his friend Oscar Wilde, who was on trial for 'committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons' the year it was painted

 

Wilde and Beardsley were professional collaborators, and they associated with a common clique of homosexual men, but whether they were really friends isn't all that clear. Beardsley was already in poor health when Wilde was released from prison in 1897, and Beardsley died the following year, two years before Wilde did. However, there's no record of Beardsley associating with Wilde following the latter's conviction and imprisonment.

Almost all of Wilde's friends from better times, when it was convenient to associate with him as a celebrity, deserted him when it would have been socially and professionally inconvenient to continue their association. Only a couple of people demonstrated that true friendship with Wilde, and Beardsley, it appears, was not among them.