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Sex Role Reversal Jmagery in Fifteenth-Century Italy

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Sex Role Reversal Jmagery in Fifteenth-Century Italy SEX ROLE REVERSAL JMAGERY IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ITALY KRYSTINA KAREN STERMOLE A thesis submitted to the Department of Art in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada August, 2000 Copyright O Krystina Karen Stermole, 2000 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1*m oi Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your tile Votre relerencs Our file Notre reldrence The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sel1 reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/filrn, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts &om it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenvise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract This thesis investigates fifteenth-century Italian imagery in which the normal hierarchical relationship of the sexes--such that man controlled woman--is somehow inverted or reversed, a phenomenon generally known as sex role reversal. This paper establishes the range of forms the theme assumed and offers suggestions regarding the fumtions each of these may have performed. It also contextualizes the theme by identifying underlying elements which may have connected the vanous forms of sex role reversal imagery to one another and to other realms of experience in the quattrocento cultural imagination. These elements include the imagery's connection to the idea of the world tumed upside down and to quattrocento carnivalesque festivity. Wherever possible, an attempt is made to reconsider the understanding and reception of sex role reversal imagery by its contemporaries. The first chapter outlines the subtleties of the quattrocento sexual hierarchy in order that the imagery which depicts its inversion can be better understood. The three remaining chapters divide the imagery and its discussion into three sections: the first deals with images incorporating the "Power of Women" iconograjhy; the second investigates images derived from the medieval tradition of courtly love; and the last focuses on depictions of the influence of classical goddesses. Acknowledgments The completion of this thesis was made possible through the assistance of many people in the supportive community which comprises the Department of Art at Queen's University, including the faculty, graduate students, and library staff. In particular, however, 1 would like to thank Volker Manuth for his interest and encouragement, and my supervisor, Cathleen Hoeniger, for her patience, her enthusiasm and her forgiveness when this project grew beyond its initial boundaries. For helping me maintain a balance between work and pleasure, 1 must thank Andrea Bubenik, Sarah McKerlich, Victoria Pollard, and Alix Sharma. As fellow students, they knew when to coax me away from the computer and back into society. 1 hope that 1 have done the same for them. Finally, 1 would like to extend my deepest gratitude to David and Nadine Stermole. As my parents, they raised me to believe in myself; as my teachers, they taught me to love learning, wherever it may take place; and as my friends, they listened, laughed, or reassured, whenever each seemed appropriate. Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. ii ... Table of Contents..................................................................................................................... IU List of IIIustrations ............................................................................................................... iv Introduction........................................................................................ ............................... ....... P. 1 Chapter 1: Gender Roles and their Reversal in Fifteenth-Century Italy ..................................................... P. 6 Chapter II: The "Power of Women" and Petrarch's Ti-ionjî ................................................................... p. 22 Chapter III: Quattrocento Courtly Love Imagery ................................................................................... p. 65 Chapter IV: Pagan Goddesses in Quattrocento Art ..................................................................... p. 108 Conclusion ...................................... .. .................................. ... p. 147 Appendix: Selected Italian Renaissance carnival songs ....................................................... P. 1 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................P. 1 Illustrations ............................................................................................................ p. 173 Vita .................................................................................................................................p. 249 ... 111 List of Illustrations 1. Unknown Venetian (?), Il Mondo alla Riversa, printed broadsheet, Ca. 1560. Cabinet des Estampes de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. 2. Pieter Bruegel, The Hay Chasing Afrer the Horse (proverb), engraving, 1568. 3. Workshop of Baccio Baldini, The Fight for the Hose, print, Ca. 1460-1464. Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich. 4. Unknown Florentine, Triumph of Love, tempera on panel, birth tray, Ca. 1450-1475. Galleria Sabauda, Turin. 5. Rosello di Jacopo Franchi, The Festival of San Giovanni, tempera on panel, front of a mamage chest, fifteenth century. Museo Nazionale, Florence. 6. Unknown Venetian, Triumph of Love, engraving, from the 1490 edition of the printed text of Petrarch's Trionj. 7. Unknown Neapolitan, Triumph of Love, frontispiece to a codex of Petrarch's Trionfi, latter half of the fifteenth century. Biblioteca Nazionale, Florence, MS. Pal. 157, f. 1'. 8. Unknown Florentine, Triumph of Love, tempera on panel, birth tray, Florentine, ca. 1460. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 9. Follower of Pesellino, Triumphs of Love and Chastity, tempera on panel, front of a mariage chest, mid-fifteenth century. Formerly in the collection of Major General Sir George Burns, North Mymms Park, Hertfordshire. 10. Attributed to Marco del Buono, Triumph of Love, tempera on panel, side of a marriage chest, fifteenth century. Pinacoteca, Siena. 1 1. Attributed to Apollonio di Giovanni, Triumph of Love, manuscript illumination in a codex of Petrarch's Trionj, Ca. 1442. Biblioteca Laurenziana, Fiorence, MS. Pal. 72, f. 7.9. 12. Workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni, Triumph of Love, manuscript illumination in a codex of Petrarch's Trionj, after 1442. Biblioteca Laurenziana, Florence, MS. Strozz. 174, f. 19'. 13. Workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni, Triumph of Love, manuscript illumination in a codex of Petrarch's Trionj, second half of the fifteenth century. Biblioteca Riccardiana, Florence, MS. 1129, f. 1". 14. Workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni, Triumph of Fume, manuscript illumination in a codex of Petrarch's Trionfi, after 1442. Biblioteca Laurenziana, Florence, MS. Strozz. 174, f. 12'. 15. Francesco d'Antonio del Chierico, Triumph of Love, manuscript illumination in a codex of Petrarch's Trionfi originally made for Lorenzo de' Medici, last quarter of the fifteenth century. Bibliothèque Nationale, France, MS. italien 548, f. 10". 16. Workshop of the Master of the "Vitae Imperatorum," Triumph of Chastiq, manuscript illumination in a codex of Petrarch's Trionfi. Biblioteca Vaticana, cod. Barb. lat. 3943. 17. Workshop of Neroccio de' Landi, Triumph of Chastity, tempera on panel, front of a marriage chest, Ca. 1470-1480. Private collection. 18. Baccio Baldini, Triuyh of Love, print from a series of the Trionfi (al1 others in the series were executed by the Master of the Vienna Passion) Ca. 1465-1485. 19. Unknown Paduan, Triumph of Love, manuscript illumination in a codex of Petrarch's Trionfi, fifteenth century. Biblioteca Vaticana, Rome, cod. Urb. 681. 20. Phyllis and Aristotle, manuscript marginalium in a French psalter and hours, early fourteenth century. Musée Diocésain, Arras, MS. 47, f. 74. 21. Attributed to Memmo di Filippuccio, Aristotle ridden by Phyllis, fresco from the cycle of seduction stories in the tower room of the Palazzo del Podestà, San Gimignano, Ca. 1305-13 15. 22. Unknown Florentine, Phyllis und Aristotle, print, mid-fifteenth century. Kunsthalle, Hamburg. 23. Taddeo di Bartolo, Mars, fresco in the vestibule of the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, early fourteenth century. 24. Unknown Italian, Phyllis und Aristotle, bronze, sixteenth century. Louvre. Paris. 25. Francesco Marmitta, T.riu~@~@Love, manilscript illumination in a copy of Petrarch's Trio$, Ca. 1501-1505. Landesbibliothek, Kassel. 25. Unknowii Fiorelitiiie, Virgil the Sorcvrer, engriving, fifteenth century. 27. Men defending u castle
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