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Cellini's Perseus and Medusa: Configurations of the Body

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CELLINI’S PERSEUS AND MEDUSA: CONFIGURATIONS OF THE BODY OF STATE by CHRISTINE CORRETTI Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Advisor: Professor Edward J. Olszewski Department of Art History CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY January, 2011 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the dissertation of Christine Corretti candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree.* (signed) Professor Edward J. Olszewski (chair of the committee) Professor Anne Helmreich Professor Holly Witchey Dr. Jon S. Seydl (date) November, 2010 *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. 1 Copyright © 2011 by Christine Corretti All rights reserved 2 Table of Contents List of Illustrations 4 Abstract 9 Introduction 11 Chapter 1 The Story of Perseus and Medusa, an Interpretation 28 of its Meaning, and the Topos of Decapitation Chapter 2 Cellini’s Perseus and Medusa: the Paradigm of Control 56 Chapter 3 Renaissance Political Theory and Paradoxes of 100 Power Chapter 4 The Goddess as Other and Same 149 Chapter 5 The Sexual Symbolism of the Perseus and Medusa 164 Chapter 6 The Public Face of Justice 173 Chapter 7 Classical and Grotesque Polities 201 Chapter 8 Eleonora di Toledo and the Image of the Mother 217 Goddess Conclusion 239 Illustrations 243 Bibliography 304 3 List of Illustrations Fig. 1 Benvenuto Cellini, Perseus and Medusa, 1545-1555, 243 Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence, Italy. Fig. 2 Donatello, Judith and Holofernes, c. 1446-1460s, Palazzo 244 Vecchio, Florence, Italy. Fig. 3 Heracles killing an Amazon, red figure vase. 245 Fig. 4 Detail of Cellini’s Perseus and Medusa. 246 Fig. 5 Detail of Cellini’s Perseus and Medusa. 247 Fig. 6 Detail of Cellini’s Medusa. 248 Fig. 7 Cellini, Danae and baby Perseus from the Perseus and 249 Medusa’s pedestal. Fig. 8 Cellini, pedestal niche of the Perseus and Medusa 250 featuring Jupiter. Fig. 9 Cellini, pedestal niche of the Perseus and Medusa 251 featuring Athena. Fig. 10 Cellini, Mercury from the Perseus and Medusa’s pedestal. 252 Fig. 11 Cellini, Saltcellar, 1543, Kunsthistorisches Museum, 253 Vienna, Austria. Fig. 12 Cellini, Perseus liberating Andromeda, from the Perseus 254 and Medusa’s pedestal. Fig. 13 Detail of Cellini’s Perseus. 255 Fig. 14 Detail of Cellini’s Perseus and Medusa. 256 4 Fig. 15 Follower of Leonardo da Vinci, Milanese school, Head of 257 John the Baptist, 1511, National Gallery of Art, London, England. Fig. 16 Andrea Solario, Head of John the Baptist, 1507, Louvre 258 Museum, Paris, France. Fig. 17 Cellini, Cosimo I, 1545, Bargello Museum, Florence, Italy. 259 Fig. 18 Tazza Farnese, interior, second century B.C., National 260 Archaeological Museum, Naples, Italy. Fig. 19 Tazza Farnese, exterior. 261 Fig. 20 Raphael, The Sistine Madonna, 1513-1514, Staatliche 262 Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, Germany. Fig. 21 Ouroboros, device for Lorenzo de’ Medici. 263 Fig. 22 Giorgio Vasari, The First Fruits of the Earth offered to 264 Saturn, 1555-1557, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy. Fig. 23 Prudentia, Florence Cathedral, Italy. 265 Fig. 24 Giambologna, Rape of the Sabine, c. 1574-1580, Loggia 266 dei Lanzi, Florence, Italy. Fig. 25 Cellini, King Francis I on Horseback, medal, reverse, 1537, 267 British Museum, London, England. Fig. 26 Michelangelo, Night, tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici, 268 San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy. Fig. 27 Denarius of Septimius Severus, reverse, 193-211, 269 British Museum, London, England. Fig. 28 Cellini, bronze model of the Perseus, Bargello Museum, 270 Florence, Italy. 5 Fig. 29 Caterina Sforza as Fortuna, medal, reverse, 1480-1484, 271 British Museum, London, England. Fig. 30 Agnolo Bronzino, Cosimo I in Armor, 1545, Uffizi Museum, 272 Florence, Italy. Fig. 31 Domenico di Polo, coin of Cosimo I, reverse featuring 273 Hercules with the Nemean Lion Skin, Museo degli Argenti, Pitti Palace, Florence, Italy. Fig. 32 Detail of Cellini’s bronze bust of Cosimo I. 274 Fig. 33 Seventh-century cosmetic Gorgo-shaped vase. 275 Fig. 34 Baccio Bandinelli, Cosimo I, 1543-1544, Bargello Museum, 276 Florence, Italy. Fig. 35 Cellini, detail of the Perseus. 276 Fig. 36 Detail of Cellini’s Perseus. 277 Fig. 37 Perseus slaying Medusa, Boeotian amphora, c. 670 B.C., 278 Louvre Museum, Paris, France. Fig. 38 Marzocco, Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy. 279 Fig. 39 Crowned lion, Bargello Museum, Florence, Italy. 280 Fig. 40 Medici coat of arms, Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy. 280 Fig. 41 Cellini, shield for Francesco I de’ Medici, c. 1570. 281 Fig. 42 Cellini, David and Goliath, shield for Francesco I de’ 282 Medici. Fig. 43 Cellini, Judith and Holofernes, shield for Francesco I de’ 283 Medici. 6 Fig. 44 Cellini, Bianca Cappello, shield for Francesco I de’ Medici. 284 Fig. 45 Pinturicchio, Pala di Santa Maria dei Fossi, 1495-1496, 285 National Gallery of Umbria, Perugia, Italy. Fig. 46 Donatello, David, c. 1440-1460, Bargello Museum, 286 Florence, Italy. Fig. 47 Bottom view of Cellini’s Perseus and Medusa. 287 Fig. 48 Breaking with the Wheel, from the Book of Numquam, 288 13th or 14th century, Cathedral Library, Soest, Germany. Fig. 49 Taddeo Gaddi, Holy Francis appearing to his Disciples, 289 1330-1335, Santa Croce, Florence, Italy. Fig. 50 Ixion and the Torture Wheel, Roman sarcophagus. 289 Fig. 51 Francesco Bartoli’s drawing of Cellini’s cope pin for 290 Clement VII, 1530, British Museum, London, England. Fig. 52 Bartolomeo Ammanati, detail of Neptune Fountain, 290 c. 1565, Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy. Fig. 53 Francesco di Giovanni Ferrucci del Tadda, Justice, 1581, 291 Piazza Trinità, Florence, Italy. Fig. 54 Vasari, Allegory of the Quartiere of San Giovanni and 291 Santa Maria Novella, 1563-1565, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy. Fig. 55 Terracotta clipei featuring Helios, 310-240 B.C., 292 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts. Fig. 56 Alberghetti family, ‚Furies‛ gun featuring Medusa, 1773, 293 Royal Armouries Museum of Artillery, Fort Nelson, Fareham, England. 7 Fig. 57 Michelangelo Buonarroti, Last Judgment, 1537-1541, 294 Sistine Chapel, Vatican Palace, Rome, Italy. Fig. 58 Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, c. 1482, Uffizi Museum, 295 Florence, Italy. Fig. 59 Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, The Ditchley Portrait of 296 Queen Elizabeth I of England, 1592, National Portrait Gallery, London, England. Fig. 60 Ammanati, Ceres, 1555-1563, Bargello Museum, Florence, 297 Italy. Fig. 61 Bronzino, Eleonora di Toledo and son Giovanni, 1545, 298 Uffizi Museum, Florence, Italy. Fig. 62 Anonymous, Cosimo and Eleonora with Maps, 1546, 299 Collection of Mrs. A. Erlanger, Connecticut. Fig. 63 Pitti Palace, Florence, Italy. 300 Fig. 64 Detail of Pitti Palace. 300 Fig. 65 Giambologna, Ops (Florence?), 1565, Boboli Garden, 301 Florence, Italy. Fig. 66 Athanasius Kirchner, Isis, Oedipus Aegyptiacus, 1652. 302 Fig. 67 Niccolo Tribolo, Hercules and Antaeus Fountain, after 303 1536, Castello, Italy. 8 Cellini’s Perseus and Medusa: Configurations of the Body of State Abstract by CHRISTINE CORRETTI In one respect Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus and Medusa (Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence, Italy) legitimized the patriarchal power of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici’s Tuscany. The bronze statue symbolizes the body of the male ruler as the state overcoming an adversary personified as female, but the sculpture’s androgynous appearance (the heads of Perseus and Medusa are remarkably similar) emphasizes the fact that Perseus, Cosimo’s surrogate, rose to power through a female agency – the Gorgon. Though not a surrogate for the powerful women of the Medici family, Cellini’s Medusa may have reminded viewers of the fact that Cosimo’s power stemmed in various ways from maternal influence. The statue suggests that female power was palpable in the Medicean state. Under the Loggia dei Lanzi maternal power assumes, specifically, the form of Medusa as Mother Goddess. In the preceding context it is telling that additional works of art celebrating the duke’s political greatness align Cosimo’s image with 9 maternal agency. The Perseus’ androgynous nature problematizes the Greek subject’s role as an epitome of virtù (virility). Thus, the statue points up the contingent nature of patriarchal power, which in Cellini’s day was synonymous with virtù. I discuss the Perseus as a reflection of Niccolo Machiavelli’s theory that virtù depends upon adversary in the form of Fortuna, a version of the Mother Goddess, for its political purposes. The similarity between the heads of Cellini’s Perseus and Medusa suggests that Cellini (as Perseus) identified with the Gorgon as a hunted figure. Thus, the statue reminds one of social, cultural, and legal restrictions imposed upon men who lived in Cosimo’s Florence. Here, the cult of honor and virtù bred more divisions in the absolutist state by perpetuating violence. Similarly, Cellini’s statue implies that violence may turn against itself by appealing to the aggression of its viewers. My study concludes with an analysis of Duchess Eleonora di Toledo’s image in art as Mother Goddess, a force who rivals the power of Cosimo I. Thus, the duchess’ image ultimately served as Medusa’s counterpart. 10 Introduction Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici’s vision of an absolutist Tuscan state informs much of the art he commissioned while he was in power. Among these works, Benvenuto Cellini’s statue, Perseus and Medusa (1545-1554, fig. 1) under the Loggia dei Lanzi, Piazza della Signoria, is the most complicated, as well as highly paradoxical. Critics have perceived the statue, which Cosimo commissioned while Cellini resided in his native Florence, as a propagandistic symbol of Cosimo’s final expulsion of the republicans from Florence. T. Hirthe has written that the statue of Perseus (the duke’s surrogate, as Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt had also acknowledged) stepping on Medusa’s body while retaining her severed head allegorizes the peace that Cosimo brought into the city after he took office, while John Pope-Hennessy has proffered his opinion that Cellini’s sculpture touts the stability of Cosimo’s regime.1 In Yael Even’s view the statue symbolized Duke Cosimo I’s absolutist power.
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