Julia L Hairston and Walter Stephens (eds), The Body in Early Modern Italy
2011; Oxford University Press; Volume: 24; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/shm/hkr110
ISSN1477-4666
Autores Tópico(s)History of Medicine Studies
ResumoAdorning the cover of this new edited volume is Agnolo Bronzino's ‘Portrait of Cosimo I de'Medici as Orpheus’ (c.1538–40). The portrait is an appropriate starting point, for this fifteen-essay volume, which crosses art history, history, philosophy, architecture and the history of medicine, with almost half of the essays belonging to the field of literature. Across four sections (‘Petrarchan corpora’, ‘Scientific and philosophical physiologies’, ‘Gendered corporeality’ and ‘The body involved’), the editors attempt to elucidate literary, medical, artistic and architectural representations of the body. As such, the collection provides a window onto a mode of scholarship, as well as the theme of the body, using ideas introduced by the Orpheus story—particularly gender, boundaries and power. Gender is used effectively in a number of essays, generally with reference to femininity rather than masculinity. In Katherine Park's stimulating piece, she considers ‘holy autopsies’, investigations made into the bodies of women, which become the starting point for debates about religious devotion, medical authority and the dividing line between the natural and supernatural. Jeanette Kohl considers the tension inherent in representations of women in portrait busts, which attempt to emphasise both chastity and desirability, and drawing attention to the interesting case of reliquary busts. Julia Hairston considers the motif of the body in the writings of Tullia d'Aragona, an ‘honest courtesan’, who secured her reputation in print.
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