Rhetoric in The Visual Arts

Conference of the International Journal of Arts and Sciences 1(19): 59 79 (2009) CD-ROM. ISSN: 1943-6114 InternationalJournal.
org
Rhetoric in the Visual Arts

Ernest J. Enchelmayer, Arkansas Tech University, USA
Abstract: This study reveals, through an extensive archival investigation of rhetorical iconography, the wealth of images available for original examination. The major goal of this work is to map the iconography as a beginning of the investigation into the visual representations of rhetoric. This discourse is designed to showcase various locations of personified rhetoric iconography so that others may identify these icons.
1. Rhetoric in the Visual Arts

Scholars have studied rhetoric as both the art of persuasion and as an art of inventing arguments since classical times. The familiar works of Plato (Phaedrus, Gorgias), Aristotle (On Rhetoric), Cicero (De Oratore), and Quintilian (Institutio Oratoria), for example, begin a tradition of critiquing and elaborating the nature and practice of the art, and that tradition continues unabated today, having experienced a renaissance of its own in the late twentieth century in the disciplines of rhetoric and composition and communication. However, even as our attention has remained more or less firmly fixed on rhetorics tradition, scholars have yet to say much, if anything, about rhetorics artistic appearance in particular, its representation in iconography, art, and architecture even though that history may be as complex and interesting as one based solely on the ways that people have represented rhetoric verbally. In this era of the visual turn, it makes sense to examine the history of rhetorics visual representation to possibly discover what the iconography of rhetoric may offer to the field. Because rhetorics visual history is largely unexplored territory, it must be mapped before future scholars can examine and develop it more resolutely. The purpose of this paper is to sketch the first outlines of this map by focusing attention on the persistent and emergent iconology in rhetorics representation, by suggesting its relevance to our notions of rhetoric, and by advancing perspectives on what difference it makes that rhetoric has been represented visually.
2. Defining Rhetorical Elements Related to this Study

From Corax to Plato and Aristotle, from Ramus to Perelman and Burke, rhetoric has been defined variously as a universal art of enchanting the mind by argumentsgood and bad alike (Plato sec. 261) as well as truth plus its artful presentation (Weaver, 1985). Whatever definition we embrace the point is simple and clear: a goal of rhetoric is the imperative; the essential. That is to say, there is an ought or a should toward which the rhetor wishes to move his or her audience. In more modern times, it has come to be viewed as a broad field encompassing any use of language as a symbolic means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature
Conference of the International Journal of Arts and Sciences 1(19): 59 79 (2009) CD-ROM. ISSN: 1943-6114 InternationalJournal.org
respond to symbols (Burke, 1969). Richard Cherwitz and James Hikins (1986) see rhetoric as the art of describing reality through language. They basically believe a rhetorical act stakes out a claim about reality: At the heart of this definition is the assumption that what renders discourse potentially persuasive is that a rhetor (e.g., a speaker or writer) implicitly or explicitly sets forth claims that either differ from or cohere with views of reality held by audiences (e.g., a specific scholarly community, a reader of fiction, or an assembly of persons attending a political rally). (p. 62) This view by Cherwitz and Hikins embraces the virtues of specificity and resembles the definition of rhetoric that may be related to how an artist might create a disciplinespecific work such as a visual depiction of rhetoric. Specifically, artisans between the period of 900 1700 were crafting images reflecting a myriad of subject matters, including the liberal arts. The iconographic artifacts of rhetoric left to contemporary viewers, as represented in my research, constitute some of the best known rhetorical iconography from the European medieval and European Renaissance and were the most accessible images for this research 1. Rhetoric, as personified by Dame Rhetoric, represents an idea that is the result of an artist employing a rhetorical strategy as described above by setting forth claims that cohere with what the liberal arts-educated citizenry of the medieval and Renaissance world expected. Further, the modern application of this personification of Lady Rhetoric held by an artistic and scholarly community is found in the myriad sightings of this Lady on websites, book covers, and T-shirts. I view the term rhetoric as the study of such descriptive discourse. Imitation also plays a role in this visual exploration of Lady Rhetoric. Rhetoric has always been an art that valued imitation 2. Many artists imitated each others work, and such imitation suggests consistency, not just in artist to artist training, but in the view of representing rhetoric. Imitation benefits readers by matching their experiences and expectations (Kostelnick, 2003). The representation of rhetoric in art is like rhetorical education because the images often reflect similar configurations just as classical rhetoricians espoused imitation. Kostelnick notes that Rhetors were trained to win arguments by imitating methods of invention and by selectively implementing a range of stylistic devices and patterns of arrangement, which they learned from masters such as Cicero, Seneca, and Quintilian. (p. 74) The sense of imitation is significant to appreciating the depictions of Lady Rhetoric because imitation of the form as reflected in personifications of rhetoric fits within the context of the scholarly community of rhetoricians and helps explain how similar the visual representations of rhetoric are across the centuries and even across European
Brief research outside of European boundaries and before and after the 900 1700 period reveals very little to develop. 2 In Rhetoric in Greco-Roman Education (1957), Donald Lemen Clark gives an account of classical imitation and analyzes the rationale for the imitation exercises.
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borders. These shared values communicate the idea of rhetoric in visual conventions employed in creating these images. In a rhetorical sense, the artists who created the icons of rhetoric must have had specific goals in mind for those who would confront the icon, such as its use to enhance the understanding of rhetoric for the viewer. An icon can sum up ideas in ways more easily accessible to less-verbal thinkers and can sum up precepts fast and efficiently. To cultivate learning and coach new or more obscure associations, the artist designed images that displayed not only elements the viewer would understand, but elements that were less easily grasped or more distantly associated with the subject. Representations of rhetoric often were accompanied by or situated with depictions of speaking, of course, but also of reading and listening. In some respects, we also perceive in these representations the attitudes of the artist toward rhetoric itself, for instance, whether it is an art of high nobility or common deception. Either way, rhetorical choices are employed in the design of the icon.
3. Popularity and Purpose of the Icon

Objects can lose their sense of value and meaning through the repetition of daily viewing. For reasons not uncovered thus far, images of Rhetorica (or Lady Rhetoric, Dame Rhetoric, etc.) did eventually taper off in the 1700s. However, as we seek to represent our association with rhetoric, scholars and teachers drawn to this nearly forgotten visual history should pursue images that may represent rhetoric but that are labeled as Eloquence or some rhetorically related name. In recent years, particularly in the mid1990s, images of the Seven Liberal Arts and particularly Rhetorica began appearing on websites of various rhetoric and composition faculty. Notably, these first few popular images were those of Drer or Mantegna and Giarda. An image of Lady Rhetoric even adorns a few scholarly books like Andrea Lunsfords Reclaiming Rhetorica. One image appears on a Penn State conference T-shirt. And, while these images have been hanging on the walls of museums and embedded in the architecture and stained-glass of Europe, they are something new to American rhetoricians and certainly a way of reclaiming our past through newfound associations with traditional icons.
4. Purpose of the Research

Research related to what I undertake in this study has parallel efforts. By parallel efforts, I mean that there are other important recovery efforts taking place, led by scholars in the history of rhetoric, particularly where women are concerned but also in rhetorical history generally. Much has been done in areas of finding spaces for women spaces that have been traditionally limited and sometimes complicated. In this study I showcase a small portion of the images my research has revealed. This study could have been done in chronological fashion, but I chose to look at the images I collected and try to discover unique items in the iconography that could then be
researched and treated. I asked such questions as, Where do we find these images? and How do we analyze these images today? and What is their function?. Clearly, the study of rhetoric held a prominent place in intellectual inquiry and the popular imagination of the day as illustrated by the historical context of rhetorical imagery in the Seven Liberal Arts. The Dame Rhetoric images achieve icon status because of their representative quality and their repetition over centuries. Noting consistencies and inconsistencies in the iconic representations of rhetoric over time may point to commercialization of icon development, or it might point to the commercial impact of educating the populace whether that education is written, visual, oral or some combination of the three. The survival of rhetoric icons and the history of rhetoric, as it is tied to icons in this study, will be scrutinized through the examination of select iconography of Rhetorica. Through the informative function of this work, contemporary rhetoricians can perhaps envision new applications, new spaces or turns through which an image can be experienced, and cultivate purpose. There is also an element of fragmentation in the way rhetoric is visually represented because it is not straightforward by just searching for Rhetorica because other associations with rhetoric arise, such as eloquence and persuasion. Illustrating this fragmentation, in the most comprehensive overview of rhetorics visual representation at the time, Jutta Tezman-Siegel (1985) offers a list of all of the important literature up to and around 1500. In the case of the Iconologia by Ripa, for example, she limits her search to the main word or lemma Rettorica while neglecting that Ripas work also suggests headings for Eloquenza and Persuasione 3. A comprehensive search would turn up an image like LEloquence (see Figure 1). Her open palm may be a direct reference to Zenos open hand for rhetoric as opposed to dialectic or logics closed fist. The personification of eloquence is richly dressed, with an open palm, and holding the caduceus all three are very important features in the iconography of rhetoric. However, this image of a rhetoric-related subject serves to demonstrate the range of images associated with the iconography of the art and how focused this particular research is on rhetoric. This image of LEloquence acknowledges the tendency to split rhetoric into parts 4. In her work, Tezman-Siegel notes that splitting up the area of rhetoric is a feature of almost all Iconologies of the early modern times 5. Any meta-comprehensive iconography of rhetoric in the medieval and Renaissance periods will not only have to take the possibility of a variety of personifications into account, but also the images of Rhetorica within the liberal arts and all of the possible names.
This researcher is only investigating those images where the word Rhetoric, Rhetorica, or some R derivative (Retorica, Rhetorick, Rhtorique, etc.) appears in the name or description of an image. 4 canons or separate studies 5 Tezman-Siegel advises to see Norma Cecchinis: Her Dizionario sinottico di iconologia from 1982.
(Figure 1 LEloquence 6) Beyond the classical personifications there are visual representations of rhetoric in the pre-Tudor and Tudor periods. Artists of that time were extensive travelers. Bruce Cole (1983) writes that the artists livelihood was based on obtaining commissions; consequently they were willing, and indeed eager, to work almost anywhere (p. 21). Because of this tendency to travel the lands, painters, sculptors, engravers, and other artists helped disseminate knowledge not only of their styles, but also of what fundamental associations should be exhibited with which composition (p. 22). This idea of resemblance and associative meaning is important because the artists, through their
By Paolo Caliari (Paolo of Verona),(1528-1588), in Muse des Beaux-Arts de Lille (Museum of Fine Arts in Lille, France). From a photo taken by Ernest J. Enchelmayer, June 2000. Also found in Secolo di Paolo Veronese by Pignotti, 1976 and Montemezzano von Hadeln by Schweikhart, 1978, page 142. Eloquence personified here has a regal look; looking like a woman dressed for a formal affair.
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design, production and sharing of artistic rudiments, were shaping the images of religion, government, and education that were on display for the populace.
5. The Researcher Lens for Looking at Rhetoric Icons

Art historian Ernst H. Gombrich (1995) believes that works of art 7 represent reality by copying the world through its physical resemblance with the subject it portrays (pp. 1537). In the context of iconographical art, particularly that of rhetoric, this semblance of rhetoric suggests just how closely related the artistic representation may be to the subject it is believed to portray. Going further, Gombrich (1995) maintains that an image cannot be separated from its purpose and circumstances. Images are born of the society in which the given visual image has currency. In other words, the image needs to be studied from the perspective of its social, economic, and historical context. Further, its meaning cannot be divorced from other images in the surrounding culture (pp. 369-74). But the purpose of an icon is to convey a message, usually within a specific discourse community known in advance to the user, which limits the possible interpretations. Every image created by the Renaissance artist was viewed through the spiritual, magical, mysterious lens of that time. According to Cole (1983), a painting or carving carried with it a cargo of associative meaning. It embodied some of the essence or being of whatever it represented or symbolized, holding a magic of the same order that informs the prehistoric cave paintings of game animals or the masks of African tribesmen (p. 11). This idea of symbolism is significant to the iconography of rhetoric because the images provide another way for a learner to grasp rhetoric. Included in any associative meaning is the fact that these images reflect an early inclusion of women in the visual depiction of rhetoric. The purpose of an icon can also be so complex as to depict the spiritual, mystical, and cosmic significance of the subject portrayed or to just simplify communication by eliminating the need for text by providing a shorthand (image) that is easily recognized and understood. One example of this from personified rhetoric icons is that of the open palm. Several images illustrated have open palms displayed. There is a complex historical context involved in the open palm illustration that goes back to Zeno. However, displaying an open palm in a rhetorical context signifies openness and willingness on the part of the speaker; it is non-threatening. The empty-handed sign does not imply that rhetoric is empty, but instead, it signals that anything is open for discussion. As well, the open palm conjures up the Aristotelian idea that rhetoric must always consider audience. In Rhetoric, Aristotle says that the reason for using enthymemes (associated with rhetoric) instead of examples or paradigms (associated with dialectic or logic) is that audiences respond better to them 8 (Book I, Chapter 2, 1356b).
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In this case, he distinguishes art with a capital A. Speeches that rely on examples are as persuasive as the other kind, but those which rely on enthymemes excite the louder applause. The sources of examples and enthymemes, and their proper uses, we will
Dialectic is concerned with establishing truth, regardless of audience. Rhetoric is concerned with persuasion and the audience is fundamental. While I acknowledge many research projects reveal and/or resolve a particular problem in a discipline, I wish to acknowledge that my inquiry arises from a desire to explore. In other words, this project, while historical, is important because history is important to the study of rhetoric, at least from the standpoint of possible revelation and certainly from the standpoint of enrichment. My first goal is to initiate the exploration of rhetorics iconic past with the hope that understanding is enhanced. As part of developing an understanding of rhetoric, it is important to recognize that the visual images of rhetoric may draw together the disparate parts of rhetoric . The image of rhetoric is a unifying principle as well, just as an architects rendering of verbal description reveals a building or a sketch artist draws together descriptive words for a police composite. The images leftover from rhetorics historical discourse can serve as a focal point that has a lasting effect on the historical perception of the field that may far outweigh its significance in terms of actual contribution to the development of rhetoric. That is, the images exaggerate by standing in for a lot of rhetoric. And, for later generations, they become convenient representations that serve decorative purposes. The point is, that we need to unpack their meaning so that their function is more than iconic, but that they function as clues to how the wider culture conceptualizes rhetoric at an important moment in rhetorics history (i.e., a visual turn). Clearly, for example, Rhetorica represents a regal, high art, judging from some of the images and descriptions we have of rhetoric personified .
(Figure 2 The Seven Liberal Arts 16th century ) The iconographic images of education, especially in the Renaissance, are the Seven Liberal Arts (see Figure 2 The Seven Liberal Arts). This image by Solis shows all of the Seven Liberal Arts lined up in a row and seemingly sharing the same space. Each has the paraphernalia typically associated with the Art represented. Rhetorica has the emblems of the Art she represents, such as the open book, but her back is turned. One hand is occupied with some sort of wand (like LEloquence), but the other hand, instead of being open, now holds a book. Perhaps this shift to a book-wielding image reflects the
discuss later. Our next step is to define the processes themselves more clearly. http://www.public.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/
shift of rhetoric from a largely oral tradition in the classical era to a print tradition in the Renaissance with the advent of the printing press.
6. Rhetoric Located - Images of Weaponry in Holy and Educational Settings

Lady Rhetoric is powerful and grand, brilliant and purposeful. Rhetorica is sometimes located within and without classroom settings. Rhetoric has always been associated with pedagogy and instruction in the arts of oratory and writing, so it is not surprising to discover a genesis of Rhetorica depicted teaching. Lady Rhetoric appears in a text format, similar to the preceding images, as is drawn sometime after 900 A.D. She appears on the lower right-hand side of a page in one edition of The Marriage of Philology and Mercury, Martianus Capella's extensive allegory of the liberal arts written sometime around c. 450 A.D. In this case, the connection between the idea and the encounter of that idea symbolized in art is interpreted to pertain to memory and learning. The influence of Martianus Capellas text is quite important to the iconography of rhetoric. His text is the earliest description of the Liberal Arts, and the influence of his description is revealed in forthcoming images. Images carried with them spiritual and educational weight. Cole (1983) describes the Renaissance society as based on sacred principles, probably biblical and/or catholic in nature (p. 37). Certainly the image of Lady Rhetorica at cathedrals, where, incidentally, collegiate-level instruction first took place, is a perfect example of how the Liberal Arts supported and reflected theology. One well-known medieval personification of Rhetorica graces the south portal of Chartres Cathedral's west faade (see Figure 3 and Figure 4 of Chartres Rhetoric). For almost 1800 years, they have continually, visually clarified the idea that "man's striving for knowledge is dependent on, and directed towards, Divine Wisdom" and, in this case and many others, Divine Wisdom 9 is given the support of a female form (Katzenellenbogen, 1961). The Arts are not presented as icons to worship, but are presented to illustrate their support of and the importance of acquiring knowledge in the pursuit of spirituality. Carved alongside of the other liberal arts and their most famous and well-known human counterparts from classical antiquity, the image of Rhetorica seated above Cicero was installed toward the middle of the twelfth century (c. 1140-45) when Thierry de Chartres was both master of the Cathedral school and in charge of the composition of the Cathedral. Placing the artes liberales on a church portal was an architectural innovation. It was also a visual statement: the Trivium and the Quadrivium collectively could now be seen to offer a way into sacred space without fighting to gain admittance (Katzenellenbogen, 1959; Gabriel, 1969). Around 1244, Jacob of Vitry (cited in Compayr 1893) when comparing the seven liberal arts with theology, had this to say:
Also, see the Book of Proverbs in the Bible. Wisdom is depicted as female.
Logic is good for it teaches us to distinguish truth from falsehood, grammar is good for it teaches how to speak and write correctly; rhetoric is good for it teaches how to speak elegantly and to persuade[]But far better is theology which alone can be called a liberal art, since it alone delivers the human soul from its woes (p. 200).
(Figure 3 Chartres Rhetoric located at Chartres Cathedral, West Faade, Right Portal.) All of the personifications of the Seven Liberal arts are shown on the west faade with their male counterparts. In this case, Rhetoric is shown with Cicero beneath. Why is Cicero beneath Rhetoric? For one thing, Cicero is indebted to rhetoric for his greatness and place among the learned population. For another, visually, Cicero is beholden to the goddess of rhetoric in much the same manner as religious art of the day. Cicero is beneath the supreme art as are biblical depictions, certainly found at Chartres and other cathedrals, where persons in a scene are situated beneath or subservient to the Supreme Being.
(Figure 4 Chartres Rhetoric located at Chartres Cathedral, West Faade, Right Portal.)
Yet the ties were easily made in other ways: the Liberal Arts surrounded the Virgin Mary as seven. Mary was associated with the Seven Liberal Arts, and seven comprises the three elements of the Trinity and four of the earthly world: four seasons, four directions, four winds and four rivers of paradise. Why is the Chartrain Rhetoric the only liberal art shown with an extended hand and open mouth? Why is Rhetoric often armed with some sort of striker, be it a sword or club? Two reasons stand out as probabilities. First, rhetoric, with grammar, was traditionally recognized as the foundational subject of the curriculum. It was foundational in two senses. Knowledge of Latin and rhetoric, in the Ciceronian (classical) sense, was germane to education of a citizen (Holmes, 1961). It was also largely taught using the spoken word until later years or when taught at the university (cathedral) level, hence the open mouth (p. 16). It was the teacher of the Trivium studies who instructed the youngest, least experienced students. Involvement with the mind of the student at such a young age placed a special burden of socialization on those who taught these subjects. The task at hand was to mold the mind and develop proper skills. Habits of concentration, memory, and subordinating impulses and appetites to study had to be fostered. Wandering attention had to be disciplined. And, what better way to instill order than to have a teacher armed with a sword, club, or some other instrument? Certainly many students remember a teacher armed with a paddle, ruler, or switch to enforce learning and train the mind with the threat of corporal punishment looming. A second plausible reason for arming Rhetorica with an instrument of combat relates to the fact that rhetoric was part of the Trivium the first phase of the curriculum and the study to which moral instruction was assigned. Studies of medieval textbooks and curriculum descriptions have confirmed this position (Paetow, 1910; Katzenellenbogen, 1939; Corbett, 1965). To make this point, Camargo notes that the study of rhetoric was probably transmitted to the Middle Ages and benefited from significant status because of Church Fathers, most of whom were trained in Roman schools whose curricula were still dominated by rhetoric (pp. 102-103). Further, Camargo (1983) observes that St. Augustine is the best example of the influence of rhetoric though he cut short a brilliant career as a rhetorician in order to take up the Christian ministry (p. 103). Thus the icons of rhetoric found in churches the early cathedral schools in particular armed with some sort of striker to enforce not only learning, but possibly moral instruction, is appropriate. Rhetorica iconography of the Cathedral of Freiburg i., B. Mnster Cathedral in Germany is consistent with the idea of the Arts religious and educational connections. While the image is iconographically distinct from that of French Chartres (Figures 3 and 4) there are commonalities with the other cathedral images and a mystical similarity in terms of positioning (see Figure 5 and Figure 16 Rhetorica, Freiburg). The faces of the Freiburg and Chartres Rhetoricas are very similar, particularly with the eyes and the slim-lipped mouths. Rhetorica of Freiburg, much like that of Chartres, is in a position of offering forth; both images illustrate the lady with her hands in a forward position. Yet the
placement of attributes is different. Rhetorica holds both hands in an open-cup manner, and they appear to be filled with gold coins (this is different from the Chartres image that has only one hand open and the other holding a striker). One might consider this to be associated with the convincing action of giving and receiving such as giving tithes to the church. The statue displays the richness of rhetoric (giving of coins; giving of instruction; giving/receiving gesture) in addition to having the beautiful robe adorning her body which is oft-associated with images of personified rhetoric. The dress of the Freiburg Rhetorica is richly done with an elegant and elaborate pattern. The border of the dress, particularly near the feet, is reminiscent of a crown.
(Figure 5 Rhetorica Freiburg in the Mnstervorhalle of the Freiburg Mnster)
(Figure 6 - Rhetorica Freiburg in the Mnstervorhalle of the Freiburg Mnster) The visual element of gender reveals itself in the educational iconography of the age. Several images of Rhetorica from this timeframe show similar qualities such as the Rhetorica by Pencz (Figure 7) and the Rhetorica of Cort (Figure 8). Each features a female figure in an authoritarian posture as marked by standing above a pupil while tutoring (Pencz) or consulting with a rhetorician (Cort). The Pencz image (Figure 7) focuses on the role of a female as teacher. Rhetoric personified is teaching a cherub. She is seated, like many depictions of rhetoric, and she is a very compassionate woman with both arms spread wide and open palms, in the manner of Zeno, as she oversees a students education in rhetoric. A choker of some fashion is displayed tight against her neck, but it is difficult to discover if the charm
hanging from it is a Christian cross (like that of the Wassenhove Rhetoric in Figure 10) or some other sort of symbol. The cherub with her is holding a book and studying it closely while she offers instruction. Her femininity is evident in the way the breasts are clearly shown through her attire. The image embracing educational authoritarian postures reflects the changing gender ideology in politics that allows for limited roles in authoritarian positions. Much like Queen Elizabeth I, some women had to adopt masculine traits in order to acquire their authority. And, in several images of Lady Rhetoric there are familiar male attributes coupled with them, such as swords, but also there are images of handsome women. Cornelius Corts image (Figure 8) also depicts rhetoric as teacher. She is seated with her feminine features stressed and holding a caduceus as she oversees instruction taking place, perhaps from one of the ancients or at least an elder, to a younger pupil. The affirmation of the ancients in this scene is definite because she extends one leg toward a stack of books that have the names of classical rhetoricians inscribed upon them. Further, two birds sit on the books and one of them might be a crow in reference to Corax, the earliest known rhetorician 10. In many of these images, the femininity of the women is exposed. Either Rhetoricas breasts are visible through material or one side of her bosom is bare, accentuating her femaleness; but strangely enough, what exposes the maternal feature of her anatomy is the absence of a pin fastening the doric chiton-type of garment which she wears, which also makes her otherwise characteristically female garb resemble a masculine warriors tunic. In a break from ancient gender dress codes, the chiton fastened on both shoulders, which was the most characteristic part of a womans otherwise ambiguous dress in the classical world, is brought uncannily close to the costume of a warrior at arms.
In notes on Capellas Marriage, there is reference to a black crow perched on Tisias shoulder. The black crow signifies Corax (Corax is Greek for crow) who is the other Sicilian traditionally referred to as one of the inventors of rhetoric (Johnson & Stahl p.156). Tisias employed Corax to teach him rhetoric on the condition he win his first case. Corax instructs Tisias. Tisias refuses payment. Corax sues Tisias. The judge eventually threw out the case citing, Kakou korakos kakov wov (a bad egg from a bad crow). See George A. Kennedy (1994), A New History of Classical Rhetoric, Princeton University Press or Edward Schiappa (1999), The Beginnings of Rhetorical Theory in Ancient Greece, Yale University Press.
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(Figure 7 Rhetorica by George Pencz c.1541 in the The Saint Louis Art Museum location number 69:1914)
(Figure 8 Rhetorica by Cornelis Cort after Frans Floris c.1565 in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam) The prepared warrior-like Rhetorica, who must either defend a position or wish to take a position, was found in the composition of other holy settings. Both challenging and compassionate images of Rhetorica can be found in northern Italy. A formidable image of Rhetoric intimidates onlookers on Giotto's campanile (1334-1337) beside the Cathedral of Florence (Figure 9 Rhetorica, Giotto).
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(Figure 9 Rhetorica on Giottos Campanile 11) Here she is cast much differently from the Rhetorica icons of the preceding century designed by Nicola and Andrea Pisano on the pulpit bases of the Cathedrals of Siena (1266/68) and Pisa (13th c.), and to the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia (c. 1278). In these visual representations, teaching and protecting are composed as similar in spirit. The Rhetorica in the Giotto gives nothing away in her expression. She is seated, but this should not be taken for any sort of complacency. Instead, she looks more like she is seated at the ready because her bodys position on the seat is forward, almost as if she is about to stand up or is at least ready to stand up from a seated position with the sword resting on her lap. This posture invites discourse because her face and the position of her sword arm are non-threatening though the armament warns of potential combat or discipline; she is willingly inviting dialogue that may influence her. This is reminiscent of the advice from Socrates when he suggests to Phdrus to become an accomplished fighter which can also mean a pleader, debater, champion, actor, or master of rhetoric. The image can mean rhetoric is ready to debate (orally) or fight (physically). Similar to the 15th century Capella Rhetorica, this Rhetorica has a sword that belies her strength and a shield worthy of deflecting, but not to hide behind; she is no coward.
7. Arming the Nobility

Similar to the readiness of Rhetorica to engage in verbal or physical combat, pupils must also be instructed on how to employ rhetoric with discretion. Another image of Rhetoric
The Campanile di Giotto in Florence, Italy. The work was begun by Giotto in 1334 and he died in 1337. Work was then carried out by Andrea Pisano until his death in 1348. Pisano finished the first two levels. The double row of tiles on the first level (allegories of manual labor, symbolic figures of planets, the Virtues, the Liberal Arts and the Sacraments) and the sixteen statues on the second story have now all been replaced by copies (the originals are contained in the Museum of the Opera del Duomo). See: Trachtenberg, Marvin. (1971) The Campanile of Florence Cathedral. New York: NYU Press. Figure 126.
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depicts a young woman, as Rhetoric, seated in a high-backed chair on a dais (see Figure 10 Rhetoric by Ghent). She is bedecked in a royal, elegant gown with a cross on a chain draped about her gracefully tilted neck and resting beneath her fair face. She holds a book open in her lap and points out a passage to a young man as if instructing him. The series Wassenhove did of the Seven Liberal Arts was for Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino (1422-82). The other works in the series include Federico in the painting. In this image of Rhetoric, however, there is an inscription across the background that only refers to him, but does not name him in the portrait. The kneeling youth may be intended to represent the Duke's son Guidobaldo, perhaps in the complementary role of Cicero. This human complement is receiving rhetorical knowledge from the Art herself to share with or use (judiciously in the role of a leader) among humankind. One might also assume that the depiction implies Guidobaldo has exceptional communication skills and is, at the very least, following his father in educational training meant to equip him for leadership. Because Federico also appears in other images of the Liberal Arts for this series, it seems clear that the images meant to establish his training for leadership to be true since his son, Guidobaldo, would just be beginning his mastering the arts and his father would certainly be ahead of him in educational studies. The appearance of Guidobaldo in the image of Rhetorica just beginning his training lends sufficient credibility to the theory that he is following after his father and would then be assumed to be at least as good a leader from his education, thus serving the continuation of patriarchy (Kahn 13). It should also be noted that in the Wassenhove (or Ghent) series, Lady Rhetoric is cast among the royalty.
(Figure 10 Rhetoric by Justus of Ghent (Joos van Wassenhove) Image c. 1480) 12 Just as in the Wassenhove Rhetoric, depictions of Lady Rhetoric often illustrate her mothering, tutoring, or engaged in some kind of teaching act. Nurturing images, like those in Chapter 3, might foster the idea of moving the iconography of rhetoric beyond basic symbolism of warring with (s)words because like the ad Herennium or Institutes those images would require viewers to delve deeper in uncovering meaning. Theoretically, then, being more informed and seeing more in rhetorical situations equips students to better confront others in written and verbal discourse. As a soundly trained student of rhetoric, the practice of confronting or warding off verbal attacks from early years through adulthood could steadily become refined. This idea of readiness, born out of the nurturing image, probably also reflects the nature of humans in the sense of beginning something, like life, in a protective environment, and then having to exercise learning in the larger world and come to grips with self awareness in human interactions. Among the warrior-like and mother-like Rhetorica icons thus far identified, the tender Rhetoricas are usually engaged with one student, whereas the tougher, more commanding images are combative, whether alone or when working with more than one student. Some rhetoric instructional scenes set in classrooms depict Rhetorica as gentle, deprived of body strikers. The instruction of rhetoric may arm the pupils enough instead of implying that physical combat is an option through displaying a weapon. This fits the oft-repeated pronouncement that knowledge is power. It may be a reinforcement of the power of rhetoric to defend against or slay ones enemies.
8. Conclusion
These images of rhetoric as they are discussed in the context of the time and with the popular convention of expression suggest that the female form was used because the interweaving of rhetoric with the female body displaces the association between women and rhetoric from the level of history to the transcendent and static or constant level of allegory and iconography. In the textual displays, rhetoric is seen as a helper without threatening female dominance. However, the iconography of Rhetorica on public display repeatedly shows her armed and suggesting rhetorics alliance not only with power, but its association with coercion by force. It is an association suggesting the power of the word to compel action, much as a sword signifies the holders willingness to bend the will of the opponent. Apparently, for the student of medieval and Renaissance education, the visual aspect was expected, i.e., it was endemic. My study of the iconography of Dame Rhetoric might stimulate similar research into the iconography of other disciplines, including the other six liberal arts 13. The iconography of rhetoric has been lost to modern scholars for all of
Series of Seven Liberal Arts. National Gallery London. Work for Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. http://www.philipresheph.com/a424/gallery/flemish/flemish1.htm 13 Ayers Bagley has begun such a study with the iconography of Grammar at the University of Minnesota.
12
these years but the recovery and further investigations may yield benefits for modern study. The importance of this brief study to the field of rhetoric can be just as simple as having a starting point to document the images that once dominated this branch of learning. Or, the significance of this research can be as complicated as striving to revive a (re)turn to prominence of visual imagery and visual communication within the art of rhetoric and the educational use of icons that are subject appropriate. There are numerous icons or allegories of rhetoric to be uncovered. My work, as stated at the outset, dealt primarily with images that have the name Rhetorica or some derivative thereof either inscribed upon the work or ascribed to it. Another possibility for further study would be to broaden the range beyond the titles of Rhetoric, Eloquence, or Oration to include the myriad classical representations of Hercules Gallicus, Mercury, and Hermes. As well, some of the Hercules images are allegories of rhetoric. There are numerous renderings of Mercury and Hermes that are worthy of consideration as rhetorical images in the sense of iconic symbols of the art. Broadening the scope further could include a study of the nine muses from their classical birth by Zeus and Mnemosyne.
References
Burke, Kenneth. (1969). A Rhetoric of Motives. Berkeley & Los Angeles, CA: U. of California Press. Camargo, Martin. (1983). Rhetoric. The Seven Liberal Arts and the Middle Ages. David L. Wagner, Ed. pp. 96-124. Bloomington, IN: Indiana U. Press. Cherwitz, Richard and James Hikins. (1986). Communication and Knowledge: An Investigation in Rhetorical Epistomology. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press. Cole, Bruce. (1983). The Renaissance Artist at Work. New York: Harper & Row. Compayr, G. (1893). Abelard and Origin and Early History of Universities. New York: Scribners. Corbett, Edward P.J. (1971). Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Second Edition. New York, NY: Oxford U Press. Gabriel, Astrik L. (1969). Garlanda: Studies in the History of the Mediaeval University. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Josef Knecht. [Overall production: Wiesbadener Graphische Betriebe GmbH, Wiesbaden.] Gombrich, E.H. (1995). The Story of Art. 16th ed., expanded and revised. London: Phaidon Press Ltd. Gombrich, E.H. (1996). The Social History of Art. The Essential Gombrich: Selected Readings on Art and Culture. Richard Woodfield, ed. London: Phaidon Press Ltd. Gombrich, E.H. (1996). The Visual Image: its Place in Communication. The Essential Gombrich. Richard Woodfield, ed. London: Phaidon Press Ltd. Hassett, Michael and Charles Kostelnick. (2003). Shaping Information: The Rhetoric of Visual Conventions. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. Holmes, Jr., Urban T. (1961). Transitions in European Education. Twelfth-century Europe and the foundations of modern society; proceedings of a symposium sponsored by the Division of Humanities of the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, November 12-14, 1957. M. Clagett, G. Post, & R. Reynolds, eds. pp. 15-38. Madison, WI: U. Wisconsin Press. Johnson, Richard and William H. Stahl. (1971). Martianus Capella and the Seven Liberal Arts. New York: Columbia U. Press.
Katzenellenbogen, Adolf. (1961). The Representation of the Seven Liberal Arts. Twelfth-century Europe and the foundations of modern society; proceedings of a symposium sponsored by the Division of Humanities of the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, November 12-14, 1957. M. Clagett, G. Post, & R. Reynolds, eds. pp. 39-55. Madison, WI: U. Wisconsin Press. Katzenellenbogen, Adolf. (1959). The Sculptural Programs of Chartres Cathedral. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press. Kennedy, George A. (1994). A New History of Classical Rhetoric, Princeton University Press. Paetow, Louis John. (1910). The Arts Course at Medieval Universities with Special Reference to Grammar and Rhetoric. Champaign, IL: U. Studies at the University of Illinois (Vol. 3, No. 7, January). Plato. (1956) Phaedrus. Trans. by W.C. Helmbold and W.G. Rabinowitz. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co. Tezmen-Siegel, Jutta. (c.1985). Die Darstellungen der septem artes liberals. Mnchen: Tuduv-Verlags Publishing. Weaver, Richard. (1985). The Ethics of Rhetoric. Davis, California: Hermagoras Press.

Rhetoric in The Visual Arts - Ernest J. Enchelmayer

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Conference of the International Journal of Arts and Sciences 1(19): 59 79 (2009) CD-ROM. ISSN: 1943-6114 InternationalJournal.

1. Rhetoric in the Visual Arts

2. Defining Rhetorical Elements Related to this Study

3. Popularity and Purpose of the Icon

4. Purpose of the Research

5. The Researcher Lens for Looking at Rhetoric Icons

6. Rhetoric Located - Images of Weaponry in Holy and Educational Settings

(Figure 5 Rhetorica Freiburg in the Mnstervorhalle of the Freiburg Mnster)

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7. Arming the Nobility

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