The Meanings of Nudity

in Medieval Art

Editedby
Sherry C.M. Lindquist

ASHGATE
-T

The Survival and Reception of the Classical Nude:

Venus in the Middle Agesl

lane C. Long

Art historians have long posited a topos of periodization that divides

pagan antiquity from the Christian Middle Ages: while ancient forms
might have persisted into the medievai period, the antique attitudes and
meanings associated with those forms waned, only to be revived during the
Renaissance. As sherry Lindquist has so clearly laid out in the introduction
to this volume, scholars traditionally have interpreted the nude figure,
that most beloved theme of classical art, as abhorrent to medieval viewers.
This reading of the nude has prevailed especially with regard to images of
Venus, the ancient deity whose nudity was most closely tied to eroticism.
When Erwin Panofsky, for example, wrote that "it was particularly-in
fact exclusively-on Venus statues that the mediaeval fear of nudity and
paganism seems to have been focused,"2 he implied that Venus's appearance
as an admired figure in the fifteenth century was the result of contemporary
investigation of the classical past, and only the veil of humanism made her
potentially troubling eroticism acceptable to a Christian culture. This essay
challenges that conventional art-historical scheme, suggesting that Venus
was not reborn in the Renaissance but survived through the Middle Ages,
both visually and semantically, as an erotic sign, and that, moreover, her
eroticism was not necessarily a negative trait for a medieval audience.
In 402, Saint Porphyry led a crowd of Christians, carrying a cross, into the
city of Gaza and up to a statue of the naked Aphrodite that had long been
venerated by the women of the city who desired marriage. There, the bishop's
biographer tells us, "the demon that dwelt in the statue beholding and being
unable to suffer the sight of the sign which was being carried, came forth out
of the marble with great confusion and cast down the statue itsel'f and broke
it into many pieces."3 For many scholars this story epitomized the fate of the
pagan gods in the wake of Christianity's success in the late-Roman world.
Venus, above all, was susceptible to Christian anathema, for she was not
only pagan, but nude, which suggested sexuality, and sexuality was sinful
 -
48 THE MEANINGS OF NUDITY IN MEDIEVAL ART

to the early Church fathers. Jerome and Augustine linked sexuality to the
fallen state of humankind, and the nude female body, in particular, was seen
as the locus of lustful desires that led humans from salvation.a Medieval
writings often referred to the demonic sexual powers that inhabited ancient
nude statues, and images of the destruction of idols in many medieval works
of art showed a naked statue toppled from its pedestal;s we can imagine the
conquest of sin as well as of paganism in these depictions.
It is not surprising, then, to find Venus, the pagan deity most often
represented in the Middle Ages, transformed into a general sign of sexual sin
in medieval culture.6 Fulgentius, writing around 500 cr, explains that Venus
appears nude because "the sin of lust is never cloaked or because it only
suits the naked."7 For Bernardus Silvestris, writing in the twelfth century,
"The shameless Venus ... the goddess of lust, is carnai concupiscence
which is the mother of all fornication."s In many parts of the former Roman
Empire antique statues of the nude goddess were deliberately mutilated
by Christians to express their disgust; one such image was disfigured and
broken up before being buried beneath the nave of the church of Dermech
I in Carthage.e Moreover, her figure was repeatedly transformed into
representations of sinners in medieval sculpture. In a capital from the
twelfth-century choir of Autun, for example, a scene signifying btxtria has
been suggested to derive from ancient images of Venus and Vulcan, while
the Dalmatian sculptor, Master Radovan, clearly based his figure of Eve on
the portal of the cathedral of Trogir (Croatia), ca. 1,240, on an ancient Venus
pudica.Io These examples suggest that the form of the classical goddess
endured, but the significance of that form changed; the sexuality that was
celebrated in the ancient world was reviled in the Middle Ages. Arguably,
this was not a real survival of Venus, and the traditional art-historical
scheme-that the goddess was reborn in the Renaissance-remains intact. If,
however, we look more closely, we find that Venus was not a univalent sign
in the Middle Ages; while she was nearly always associated with eroticism,
that eroticism was not always immoral.
Venus's role in ancient art and literature was complex and varied, but
her central association with love, marriage, and fertility led to a pervasive
iconography of the goddess as an erotic nude, whose presence aroused
humans and nature alike. One of the more renowned representations of the
goddess was Praxiteles's fourth-century r,cn Aphrodite of Knidos, whose ability
to incite men was widely discussed in the Hellenistic world; an oft-repeated
tale described a young man who was so excited by the cult irnage that he
managed to have himself locked into the temple at Knidos one night and
attempted to consummate his passion with the statue.rr One of many literary
examples of the goddess's power came from the'Vigil of Venus, a late-Roman
hymn:

Love shall dawn tomorrow,

Tomorrow's crv is love!

t
 lane C. Long 49

Tomorrow shall the blood

From heaven spurn the sea,
Spurn surf and frothing flood,
And hair floating to her knee
Shall be Venus' only dress,
As our Lady's smiles enslave
The seahorse and fluoresce
On Ocean's bluish wave.

Love shall dawn tomorrow,

Tomorrow's cry is love!

Her lap will shed the flowers

And grow a scented fleece,
Sprout nascent buds and showers
Pbilen into the morning breeze.
From her sloping shoulders run
Little drops, gather on the greery
Tremble and sparkle in the sun-
A wobbly weight soon seen
Before their fall to leave a trail
Like tears, then drip in flashes:
Her rosebush dropped the veil
Of pearls, and Nature blushes.

Stars at night distil the dew

Drench the maidens' gowns
And the breasts show through
The fabric their little crowns
And reveai the undefiled rose,
When Venus from the swelling tide
Is guiding them to the enclose
Where the groom awaits the bride
To be wed at dawn and bond
In trust and without shame,
Be close and growing fond
Finding her docile and tame.12

In the ancient world Venus was an erotic obiect in and of herself, and sl:re
provoked others to sexual acts.
Although formal worship of the goddess certainly declined in the late-
Roman period, interest in the themes of love and fertility that she represented
did not disappear, and her nude figure continued to serve as a metaphor for
sexual bonds, particularly in a nuptial context. Poems made for the weddings
of both pagan and Christian couples featured Venus as a central character; her
essential eroticism was consistently underlined by descriptions of the goddess
as naked, with unbound hair. Claudian detailed Venus's preparations for a late
fourth-century pagan wedding: "She bathes herself in a cool stream, gathers her
flowing hair, and renews her charms ..."13 In an early sixth-century Christian
epithalamium by Magnus Felix Ennodius, Venus stood naked on the pebbles
of the cold sea, with her hair wafting around her, evoking erotlc urges in the
 -!!F

50 THE Ir'IEANINGS OF NUDITY IN MEDIEVAL ART

1S

rcl
groom and preventing "frigid virginity"
tt
from dominating his relationship with his
tlT bride.ra Venus acted as a seductive figure
in both pagan and Christian epithalamia,
Pl
not only to symbolize the wedding but also
m
to stir up appropriate emotional (that is,
rd sensual) responses to the event.15
)n Venus appeared naked in manY works
of art made for weddings as wel1. In
Roman marriage contracts from at least the
It first century cE, lists of goods transferred
Id between families included'Aphrodite
among the dowries."ro A large number of
hi
statuettes of Venus in a variety of media
:aI have been found throughout the areas
le comprising the Roman EmPire, from
Egypt to England; very likely these objects
)l
constituted part of the dowry exchange
Itl (Figure 1.1). Apparently the statuettes
rt were mass produced, but their dates range
from the first century rcr through the
.d,
fourth century cn. While they certainly
vary in their appearance, they tend to
f follow a consistent schema, representing
-r naked Venus in a pose that emphasizes
the femininity of her figure. In a pipeclay
he
statuette found in a third-century Roman
,e(
burial in London,17 for examPle, the
lrI goddess strokes a lock of hair that hangs
over her shoulders, and her figure displays
o
sharply defined breasts and genitals, with
n noticeably wide hips; her spine curls
forward slightly, which exaggerates the
curvature at breast and upper thigh. This
:CI
stance results in an emphasized feminine
profile from both a frontal and side view.
The Projecta Casket, today in the Bdtish
Museum but made for the wedding of a
Christian couple from an eminent Roman
family, ca. 380 cr (Figure 1.2), represents
the nude Venus, sitting on her shell and
holding out a lock of her hair, on the lid
I. I Vctitts, Rom.tn pipecl.rv figurirre. of the box. Once again she is shown in a
1st-4th century cE. MuseLlm of London. pose that demonstrates her sensuality; ihe
(Photo: @ Museum of London) shell is itself an eroticized object, for it is
 lane C. Long 51

I.2 Proiecta
Casket, ca. 380
cn. London,
British Museum.
(Photo: Trustees of
the British Museum)

a metaphor for the vulva that develops as an attribute

of Venus in the Hellenistic period,lE and her raised arms
emphasize the curves of her breasts and stomach' On
the body of the box below, the bride combs her hair'
presumably in preparation for her wedding (or perhaps
irer wedding night). Projecta in a sense becomes Venus
through her marriage: although fully cloihed' she' too'
may be seen as a sexualized figure'1e A seventh-century
Byzantine pendant from Egypt, now in the Dumbarton
Oaks Coliectiory represents Venus against the symbolic
shell, this time made from lapis lazuli (Figure 1'3)' She
stands in a classic Aphrodite Anadyomene pose: the
goddess tilts her head coquettishly as she raises her arms
io wring out her hair in a stance that at once displays
her ideal body and d.raws attention to her flowing locks'
Alihough drapery covers her left leg, the right one
advances in such a way that it appears naked' and
the
body read.s as a series of sensual curves: breasts to belly
to thlgh. The existence of a number of Coptic amulets
I of ttre same motif, some of which include inscriptions
I asking Venus io help attract the attention of a lover'
'l confirms that the subject is designed to celebrate Venus's
S
sexuality.2o
l Thus Venus was important not only for the wedding 1.3 Aphrodite, Pendant, east

l ceremony but also for the consummation that followed \4ed iterra nean, earlY 7th centurY'

a
it. Since consummation was essential to both the legality Washington, DC, Dumbarton Oaks'

e
and the functionality (that is, procreation) of pagan and (Photo: @ Dumbarton Oaks, BYzantine
Collection, Washington, DC)
.S
Christian marriages alike, Venus's role should not be seen
 3Z THE MEANINGS OF NUDITY IN MEDIEVAL ART

merely as an unthinking continuation of ancient formulas. Rather, the eroticism

signaled by her naked form and unbound hair was a fundamental element
of
the relationship which these poems and works of art commemorated. These
works established an acceptable realm for the exploration of the seductive
nude in a Christian culture; sexuality need not always be sin. Indeed, despite
the condemnation of sexual desire by many Christian authors, many others
accepted and encouraged it within the context of marriage. For Albert
the
creat sexual pleasure was an inherent aspect of God,s design of humans,
while his pupil, Thomas Aquinas, explicitly stated that ,,it is not right to
say every act of carnal union is a sin," arguing that sexuality was part
of
the divine plan and that "fleshly union" between couples was important in
solidifying their marriages.2r Medievai wedding celebrations made salacious
entertainments-jokes, stories, songs, and dances-such a fundamental part
j
of their proceedings, that canon law forbade clerics from attending thei.r,
Moreover, both ancient and medieval physiological treatises described the
I

compelling power of sexuality and defined pleasure in intercourse as essential

for conception.23 The legacy for the rater Middre Ages, then, was not a simple
denunciation of sexual desire, but an acceptance that, in certain circumstances
it might be acceptable.
If the later Middle Ages simply followed the dichotomy established here-
when Venus stood for pure lust-ltLxuria or cupiditns-she represented siry
when she stood for productive sexuality she was acceptable-we would
have a relatively simple duality. Indeed, the twofold nature of Venus was
widely acknowledged in medieval writings.2a Mythographers from Remigius
to Boccaccio defined the goddess in precisely this binary fashion. Boccaccio
continued the medieval use of venus as a sign of passion, although he also
explained her role to the reader more fully. The seventh novella ofbecnmeron
describes a lover who uses "Bacchus in the service of Venus,,, that rs,
gets
his lady drunk in order to seduce her. In Teseida, venus is ,,she for whom
every lasciviousness is desired, and who vulgarly is called the goddess
of
love. That venus is double, for the one can and should be seen as referring
to
every honest and licit desire, such as the desire to have a wife and children.,,2s
Boccaccio specifically defined physical enjoyment as belonging to the realm
of venus in the Genealogia deorum gentilium.z6 The duality of venus explained
here is not the only way that the goddess was perceived in the Middte Ages,
however; the acceptance of a licit realm for sexuality within marriage may
have allowed medieval culture to blur the lines between what sexuality could
be tolerated and what could not. That is, the celebration of sex-uality, through
the figure of the naked venus, was not restricted to nuptial imagery.
The appreciation of sexuality outside of its procreative functions is made
explicit in secular literature of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The bawdy
narratives of the fabliaux see humor and enjoyment in sexuality, although
venus does not necessarily enter the picture there. In rhe Roman de In Rose,
however, it is venus "who wages continual war on Chastity,, and secures the
lover his carnal pleasure; she is both a negative and a positive force in the
 lane C. Long 53

poem.27 The Carmina Burana have many love lyrics that explore
numerous
llrr

:of ih"..r", ofpleasure without reference to the consequences of sin; Venus

appears repeatedly in these poems, tied to moments of sexual gratification'
In
lse
the stage for an encounter between lovers:
ive a poem by Peter of Blois, Venus sets

rite
Carmina Burnnn33
eIs
the
NS, I am the master of mY fate
to no harsh one.
:of While we sport in a secluded chamber,
Venus smiles benignlY uPon us.
tin A nude, framed bY the Protective bed,
0us Flora lies there, her skin soft and white,
)aft her breasts suffused with the glow
ar1,22 of innocence, swelling just a little,
the beginning to bud.
rtial
Refr. \Mnt
rple sweet rewards
lces and happy ioys
are these hours
ie- spent with
my Flora!
sin,
ruld I become superhumary
was And delight in being elevated
gius to the ranks of the gods,
rcclo as I caress her tender breasts;
divinely inspired, mY hand
also
follows its circuitous course
'.er0n and wanders past her bosom,
oefq reaching down to her bellY
t ''"
hom with the lightest of touches.
.^ ^f Refi....
rs
'o to
--
From her soft little bosom
\1,"25
her slim sides taPer down
ealm in delicate proPortions;
Lined their flawless flesh
\ oeq yielding
to the gentle caress.
may
Slender beneath the waistline
:ould her navel stretches out
ough on a tiny bellY swelling forth
to just the slightest degree
R fr....
made
)wdy
My desire is aroused
,ough by the alluring softness
Rose, of the fine downY hair
es the that grows sParselY
in the on her innocent bodY.
 -
]4 TIIE MEANINGS OF NUDITY IN MEDIEVAL ARl'

Her soft legs are covcrecl

with jr:st the right amount of flesh,
smoothly supported by a hidden netn ork of mnscles,
radiantly white.
Rcfr. . ..2s

ur.rder the reign of venus-the "tutelary deity of sensllal delight-2e in peter

Godman's words-the poet provides a strikingry detailed picture of the nude
Flora. His description lingers on those details that particularly define her
femininity: breasts, belly, flawless white flesh. These are the same details that
often describe venus in ancient literature, and the poem,s language, like the
antlque representations of the goddess, is designed to arouse.
within the context of this sympathetic evaluation of the sexuality that the
goddess represents, we may consider several survivars of ancient images
of
venus in the Middle Ages. Almost certainry medieval viewers were most
familiar not with large-scare sculptures of the goddess, but with smarl,
precious objects like jewelry, gems, and coins that often encred up in the
treasuries of churches and princes.30 A large number of intaglios representing
venus survive from all over the Mecliterranean; although she ca' appear
in a variety of guises, she is often the erotic Aphrodite Anadyomene type
we see in the Dumbarton oaks pendant (Figure 1.3): a curvaceous, fuily or
7.4 semi-nude female, holding out her unbou'd hair. one typicat example
Veruts of
Anndyomene, the Anadyomene is found in an intaglio in the victoria and Albert Museum
intaglio, ca. (Figure 1.4). venus stands in a frontal contrapposto pose, her arms raised
200 ncr-100
in
an unabashed display of her body; her curves are not as pronounced
cr. London, as in the
Victoria ar-rd Byzantine pendant, but no strategicalry praced drapery shierds her nudity.3l
Albert Museum. while strch pagan gemstones might undergo an "interpretatio christiana,' in
(Photo: Victoria and medieval collections, they might arso be used in ways that acknowledged
Albert Museum, their pagan nature. Medieval lapidaries indicate that images carved into gems
Lorrdon) were believed to carry some "heavenly powers" within them, so the
stones
could be used for both medicinal and
magical purposes. For Albert the Great,
for example, intaglios represented that
"if a figure is impressed upon matter,
either by nature or by art, [with due
regard to] the configuration ofheaverl
some force of that configuration is
poured into the work of ,nature or
of art,' the theologian recognized
power in these stones, even though he
disapproved of magic.32
That Venus's erotic meaning in these
powerful gems was not automatically
transmuted or rejected is suggested by
texts such as the Picatri:r, an eleventh-
 lane C. Long 55

century book of magic and astrology of

Hispano-Arabic origins that was translated,
at the command of King Alphonse X, into
Spanish and then Latin in the mid-thirteenth
centtrry.33 The Picstrix assigned qualities to the

etef
planets, including personifications tied to their
ude
eponymous classical gods, so Venus became
her
the patron of pleasures and love: "Venus is
that
the source of the power of sensuality."3a The
dependence of the author on a wide range of
the
ancient-particularly Hellenistic-texts is well
known; what is equally clear is that the images
the
he described for talismans and amulets also
sof
derived {rom Hellenistic sources. Indeed, it
nost
seems there was no need to make a talisman
ial1,
the
if a surviving ancient image of Venus could
be obtained.35 The Picatrix provided various
ting
recommendations for using gemstone amulets
lear
that could tap into different powers of the
planets; the "forms" chosen for representation
yor
on the talismans determined which benefits the
eof
bearer would receive. Among several forms for
lum
Venus was a nude woman, with unbound hair,
din like the Anadyomene frequently found in the
Lthe
Roman intaglios. Love spells were to be cast
trr 31

,,in in the "hour of Venus," using such talismans,

and if "you make a form of a young nude girJ
ood
t]... ... in lapis Tazulli, whoever carries this talisman
ems
with him will be loved by women and will
lnes do whatever he wants."36 Thus the classical
and form as well as the ancient connections and
meanings of the pagan goddess persisted into
that the medieval concept of Venus rn the Picntrl:r: both Venus's nude figure and
1.5 Aphrodite
ffpr (Capitoline
her erotic nature were associated with desirable, not evil, consequences' type), Roman,
dr-re In the late twelfth or early thirteenth century a report of a life-size statue ?rrl n,'ntrrrrr np
ven/ of venus comes from the Narracio de Mirabilibus urbis Rontae, a description Naples, Museo
I^ I
i^
l)
of the antiquities of the city of Rome written by an English visitor, Master Archeologico
lor Gregorius. Gregorius's text comprises descriptions of things he saw in Rome
Nazionale.
(Photo: Vanni/Art
ized "that are most worthy of admiration," beginning with the series of bronze
Resource, NY)
hhe statues gathered around the Lateran, then moving to marble sculptures,
paiaces, temples and arches, and so on. The very first marble statue to catch
hese his attention - and the one to which he devotes the most attention - represents
.-ll-,
-d1r) Venus. Many scholars beiieve it is the work we today cail the Capitolitte Venus
n h,, (Figure 1.5).37 Gregorius tells us he begins with this statue because of its
nth- exceptional beauty, and he describes it:
 -,-

56 THE MEANINGS OF NUDITY IN MEDIEVAL ART

The image is made from Parian marble with such wonderful and intricate ski11, that
she seems more like a living creature than a statue: indeed she seems to blush in
her nakedness, a reddish tinge coloring her face, and it appears to those who take
a close look that blood flows in her snowy complexion. Because of this wonderful
image, and perhaps some magic spell that I'm unaware of, I was drawn back three
times to look at it despite the fact that it was two stades distant from my inn.3s

Michael Camille explains this description, seeing in Gregorius's response

to the statue a consciousness of ancient writings about art that defines
an aesthetic response. Since, he notes, Venus in the twelfth century was a
"demonic temptress," Gregorius is experiencing what Camille calls an "urgent
psychological separation of form from function," and the statue is "aftractive
but intimidating.":r But, as we have seen, Venus was not always demonic.
Cregorius's treatment of Venus is striking in its physicality; he describes
tll.e Dioscuri-giant male nudes-as no more than figures "of incredible size
and skillful composition."ao A statue of Pallas bearing arms-presumably
a clothed female, but now lost-gets only the impersonal comment that
"spectators considered her a wonderful sight."al The Marcus Aurelius receives
a detailed discussion of iconography and possible meaning, but no mention of
physical appearance. It is only Venus whose complexion must be described;
it is only Venus who seems to come to life for Master Gregorius; it is only this
seductive nude, with her "magic spell," that draws him back three times.a2 I
see no sign that Cregorius is intimidated by the image that he twice describes
as "wonderful;" rather, the statue's beauty, which appears to be tied to her
nudity (given the author's focus on describing her flesh), clearly gives him
pleasure. If Peter of Blois and the author ol the Picatri:r can perceive Venus in
a positive light as linked to erotic pleasure, cannot Master Gregorius?
A second ancient statue of the nude Venus with a medieval afterlife was
found in Sienese territory sometime around the middle of the fourteenth
century. We learn about this work most fully in the Commentari of Lorenzo
Ghiberti" written approximately a hundred years later. The Florentine tells us
that when the sculpture was discovered, "all those who were knowledgeable
and trained in the arts ... ran to see this statue, so marvelous and of such
artistry ... And with great honor they placed it on their fountairy as a very
remarkable thing..."+: But it stayed there only a short time, for the Sienese
were shortly thereafter defeated in battle, and they blamed the statue, because
they believed, Ghiberti writes, "our faith prohibits idolatry." So the figure
was broken up and buried on enemy land. The statue does not survive, but it
has been suggested that an illustration from a fourteenth-century Florentine
manuscript of the Decnmeron refl.ects its appearance; in the illustration Venus
is the pudica type that seems to have begun with the Aphrodite of kidos (seen
in the Capitoline Venus, Figure 1.5), with her right hand across her breasts and
her left at her groin.aa Camille addresses this story as well, seeing in it another
aestheticized response to a culturally distant objec! and he is absolutely right
as far as Ghiberti goes.'1s Chiberti is writing under the influence of humanism,
however, and we cannot assume that the Sienese community of the mid-
 Jane C. Lortg 57

fourteenth century shared his aesthetic sensibility. Creighton Cilbert has

pointed out a second soulce regarding this incident that sheds more light on the
contemporary response; in deliberations of the Sienese governors ftom 1357,
the stafue is ordered to be removed from the fountain as soon as possible "crllt?
hrhonestum ztideatur," because its disgracefulness is apparent.a6 We cannot know
all the implications of the word inhonesttLm; itis certainly possible that it implies
ISE idolatry. But Ghiberti specifically uses the word idolatry-"1'idolatrin"-not
ICS a more generalized synonym, and his use of this explicit term is tied to one
ia of the goals of his Commentari'. to establish that the medieval fear of pagan
)nt religion led to the destruction of many classical works of art. The statue may be
VC disgraceful because of Venus's pagan roots, as Ghiberti suggests, but it seems
ric. equally possible that her nudity is at fault here. Neither ancient clothed female
)es statues nor nude male statues-both presumably as idolatrous as Venus-are
lze recorded as demanding the same drastic interventions in Italian city-states of
,ly the fourteenth century. \Arhat makes this statue different is that Venus is nude;
rat since nudity brings erotic pleasure, it could surely be described as inhonestus.
/es And the irony is that Venus is marvelous, remarkable, and much celebrated
of until bad fortture strikes.It is not an automatic fear of idolatry or of sexuality that
',1' leads to the statue's destructiory but concrete evidence that what the Sienese
ris only too late perceive to be its indecency has jinxed the city.47
12
I One final survival of Venus may clarify this reading of medieval responses
)es to images of the goddess: a statue, like the one from Siena, that cannot be
ler firmly reconstructed, but was held in a private collection in Florence in the
im later fourteenth century. It was described by Benvenuto da Imola, a lecturer
in at the University of Bologna, who wrote a commentary on Dante, probably
in the 1370s. In his remarks on Canto I0 of Purgatorlo, where Dante describes
/as sculptures so marvelous that they put the work of both Polykleitos and
rth Nature itself to shame, Benvenuto explains who Polykleitos was to the reader
tzo and refers to sculptures attributed to the Greek artist:
LlS
He sculpted two nude boys playing ... and many felt that no work was more perfect
rle
than that one; thus it was judged to display consummate skill. I also saw in a private
Lch
house in Florence a wonderful marble statue of Venus in the pose in which they
)ry represented Venus at that time. It was a very beautiful nude woman holding her left
lse hand over her genitals and her right hand across her breasts.a8
lse
Like Gregorius, the author clearly reacts differently to male and female
tit figures. The male nudes are admired for the way they display the sculptor's
ne artistry (scientia); the statue of the naked goddess, on the other hand, is both
rus wonderful and extremely beautiful in itself, with no mention of the artist's
ren skill. Alihough Benvenuto does not linger over his description in the way that
nd Gregorius did, he provides more detail for the Ventrsthan for the Two Boys,
ler and his coupling of "speciossima" with "ntLda" implies that her nudity is an
jht essential element of her great beauty. To be sure, his remarks move into a
m/ distinctly historical frame of reference, for Benvenuto finishes his description
lu- of the VentLs with the statement that he does not believe the stafue was actually
 58 THE MEANINGS OF NUDITY IN MEDIEVAL ART

carved by Polykleitos since it was made from marble.ae Clearly some of the
value of the work lies in its possible attachment to the famous sculptor, so the
"aesthetic" attitude that Camille detected in Gregorius and Ghiberti seems
to be a more plausible element of the goddess's reception here; however, if
the iconography is still potentially troubling-and there is no sign of this
response-the statue is admired without reservation.
None of these medieval viewers, then, appears from the outset to be
repulsed by ancient representations of venus. In these examples the goddess
is neither transformed nor demonic. while the pagan origins of the images
appear irrelevant for the Picntrix author, Gregorius, and Benvenuto, and
may not have affected the sienese response, awareness of Venus,s nudity is
consistently an essential aspect of experiencing the works. The writers receive
the images in the most positive terms-powerful, marvelous, wonderful,
remarkable, and very beautiful-and although they can be problematic, this
may reflect their inherent eroticism, which is simultaneously appealing and
socially questionable.
If we return now to where we started, to the notion of a medieval rejection
of the classical past, we find that the situation is more complex than art-
historical convention has allowed. There was no need to revive venus in the
fifteenth century, for she had never died. Her status as a pagan goddess, her
ties to erotic pleasure, even her ideal nude form survived throuehout the
Middle Ages. It is absolutely true that venus, as a pagan goddess of sexuality,
was frequently reviled in medieval literature and art. It is also true that she
was sometimes enjoyed.

Notes

I am grateful to Madeline H. Caviness for her comments on this paper when

it was delivered at the 42nd International Congress on Medieval-strrdi". ut
Kalamazoo in2007, as well as to Kathleen Nolan and susan ward, who made
many helpful suggestions. I also owe thanks to James M. Ogier and Gary G.
Gibbs for their discussion of the translations of the Latin quotations in tiris
essay wilh rne.

Erwin Panofsky, Rennissnnce snd Renascences in WesternArf (New york:

Harper & Row, 7969),751-52, n. 3. On the idea that pagan gods survived only
through transformation during the Middle Ages, see idern, stud_ies in lconology:
Httmnnistic Themes irL the Art of the Renaissance (New york: Harper & Row, 1939);
Jean seznec, The suraiaal of the pagnn Gods (princeton, NJ: prinieton Universrty
Press, 1953), 749-83; and Edgar wind, pagan Mysteries in tlte RenaissaLrce (New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1958).

Mark the Deacon, The Life of Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza, ed. George Francis Hill
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), 70 71.
Margaret R. Miles, Carnsl Knowing: Female Nakedness and Religious Meaning in the
Cfuistiatt Wesf (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989), 28-29;JamesA. Brundage, ,,Sex and
Canon Law," tn Hnndbook of Medieual SextLality, ed. Vern L. Bullough and
Jarnes
A. Brundage (New York: Garland, 1996),33-50, at 34-35.
 lane C. Long 59

Cyril Mango, 'Antiqr-re Statuary and the Byzantine Beholder," DtLnbarton Oaks
"it is not surprising that the nude statues of the
Pnpers 17 (7963): 55-75, at 60:
Hippodrome should have been inhabited by demons of concupiscence."

John B. Friedman, "L'Iconographie de V6nus et de son miroir d 1a fin du Moyen

Age," in L'Erotisne mt Moyen Age, ed. Bruno Roy (Quebec: Aurore, 1975),57-82,
at 54; Elisa Buono, "From Goddess to Virgin: Transformations in the Eastern
Empire," in Suraiaal of the Gods: Clossical Mythology in Mediertnl Arl (Providence,
RI: Departmerrt of Art, Brown University, 1987), 85 95.

"Hanc etiam nudam pingunt ... sive quod libidinis crimen ntlmquam celatum
sit sive qrrod numquam nisi conventat." FtLlgentius the Mtlthogrnpher, trans
Leslie George Whitbread (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1971),
oo.

Bernardus Silvestris, Commentary on the First Six Books of Virgil's "Aeneid," trans.
Earl G. Schreiber and Thomas E. Maresca (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska
Press,7979),77.

Anthony Cutler, "Reuse or Use? Theoretical and Practical Attitudes toward

Objects in the Early Middle Ages," in Ideologie e prntiche del reintpiego nell'alto
Medioe-oo: 16-21 Aprile 1998 (Spoleto: Centro Italiano di studi sull'alto
medioevo, 1999), 1055-83, at1057 58. Cutler notes that the destruction of
the idol at Dermech I follows "Roman legal practice regarding the execution
and disposal of criminals." See also Michael Greenhalgh, The Surttittnl of
Rornnn Antiqttities in the Middle,4ge (London: Duckworth, 7989),204 B; Niels
Hannestad, "How did Rising Christianity Cope with Pagan Sculpture?"
inEnst and West: Modes of Cornmtmicntion. Proceedirtgs of the First Plennnl
Conference nt Meridn, ed. Euangelos K. Chrysos and Ian Wood (Leiden: Bri11,
1999), 173-204.

10 Berthold Hinz, "statuenliebe. Antiker Skandal und mittelalterliches Trauma,"

Mnrbtrrger lahrbtLch fiir Kunstwissenschnft 22 (1989): 135-42; idem, "Venus-
Luxuria-Frau Welt: Vom Wunschbild zum Albtraum zur Allegorie," Miinchner
lnfubttch der bilclenden KtLrrst 54 (2003): S3-104; M. Pinsor; "Etude iconographique
dtr portail de Trogir," Medioeao e Umnnesimo 49 (1'982): 483 97 '

11 The story may be found ln J.J. Pollitt, The Art

o;f Greece, 1400 31 B'C : Sources
nnd DoctLnrcnts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 84, 86. See
also Christine Mitchell Havelock, The Aphrodite of Knidos nnd her successors: A
Historicnl Reoieu of the Femnle NtLde in Greek Art (Anr-r Arbor, MI: The University
of Michigan Press, 1995); Nigel Spivey, IJnderstnnding Greek ScrLlptttre (London:
Thames and Hudson, 7996), 172-86. On the eroticism of this statue, see also
Diane Wolfthal's essay in this volume, 2BB.

12 James J. Wilhelm, Medieztal SorLg: Art Anthology of Hymns nnd Lyrics (New York:
E.P. Dutton, 197 1), 21-24.

13 Clattdian uith nn Engtish Trnnslatiort, trans. Maurice Platnauer (Cambridge, MA:

Harvard University Press, 1963), 2: 213.
I4 Mngni Felicis Ennodi Opera, ed. Friedrich Vogel (Berlin: Berolini, 1885), #388;
S.A.H. KenneII, Mngntts Felix EnnoditLs: A Gentlemsn of the Church (Ann Arbor,
MI: The University of Michigan Press, 2000), 92-96.
15 Arthur L. Wheeler, "Tradition in the Epithalamium," The Anrcricnn lournnl
of Philology 51 (1930): 205-23; E. Faye Wilson, "Pastoral and Epithalarnium
in Latin Literature," SpectLlum 23 (9a\:35-57, at 35; Michael Roberts, "The
Use of Myth in Latin Epithalarnia from Statlus to Venantius Fortunatus,"
 60 THE MEANINCS OF NUDITY IN MI]DIEVAL ART

Trnnsnctions of the Arnerican Philological Associntion 1 19 (1989): 32L-48; Eva

Stehlikov6, "The Metamorphoses of the Roman Epithalamium," Eirene: sttLdin
Grnecn et Latmn 27 (1990): 35 45; A.F. Basson, "Tradition and Originality ir.
Late Latin Literature: Classical Literary Genres in Paulinus of Nola," Scftolla
n.s. B (1999):79-95, at82 84.

I6 The inclusion of Aphrodite statuettes as part of dowries surely goes back

further, to Greek traditions; see Henry A. Sanders, 'A Latin Marriage Contract,"
Trnnsactions nnd Proceedings of the Americnn Philological Association 69 (1938):
704-1,6.

t7 Now in the Museurn of London. Bruno Barber and David Bowsher, The Eastern
Cemetery of Roman London (London: Museum of London Archaeology Servic.,
2000),736,319.

1B Kurt Weitzmann, Age of Spirituality (New York: Metropolitan Museum of

Art, 7979),330 32; Kathleen J. Shelton, The Esquiline Trensure (London:
The British Museum Press, 1981), 72-75; Andrew Cameron, "The Date and
Owners of the Esquiline Treasure: The Nature of the Evidence," American
lournal of Archaeology 89 (1985): 135 45; David Buckton, ed., Byzantium:
Treasures of Bqznntirte Art nnd CtLlture (London: The British Mnseum Press,
7994),33-34; Jds Elsner, "Visualising Women in Late Antique Rome: The
Projecta Casket," inThrough a Glass Brightly: Studies in Byzantine nnd Medieunl
Art nnd Archneologtl Presented to Dnttid Bucktort, ed. Chris Entwistle and David
Buckton (Oxford: Oxbow Books,2003), 22-36;W. D6onna,'Aphrodite A 1a
coqui1le," Rezrue Archinlogique 6 (1917):392 416;Maria BrickofJ, 'Afrodite
nella conchiglla," Bollettino d'Arte 9 (1929-30):563-69; Erwin R. Goodenough,
lewish Symltols in the Greco Romnn Period 712 (New York: Pantheon Books,
1958), 95 104; Mircea Eliade, "Observations on the Symbolism of Shells," in
Images nnd Symbols: Studies in ReligiotLs Symbolisnt, trans. Philip Mairet (New
York: Search Book, 1969), 125 50; Marion Lawrence, "The Birth o{ Venus rn
Roman Art," in Essnys irt the History of Art Presented to Rrtdolf Wittkouer, ed.
Douglas Fraser (London: Phaidon, 7967),70-16; Eleanor W. Leach, "Palutus'
RtLdens: Venus Born from a She11," Texns Studies in LiternttLre and Language IS
(7974): 915-31; Iohn M. Steadman, "Venus' Citole in Chaucer's Knisht's Tqle
and Berchorius," Speculum 3a (1959): 620-24; Meg Twycross, Tht Mttlieunl
Anndyomene: A SttLdy in Chnucer's Mythography (Oxford: Basil Blackwell,
f972);W.5. Heckscher, "The Anndyomene in the Mediaeval Tradition," in Arf
and Literriure: Studies in Relationship, ed. Egon Verheyen (Durham, NC: Duke
University Press, 1985), 749-50; Boccaccio, Genealogia deorum, III, chap. xxiii,
I,152.
79 The comparison of the bride to Venus is a common feature in late antique
epithalamia; see note 15 above.
20 A. Delatte and Philippe Derchain suggest that the large number of engraved
gems from late antiquity that included the figure of a naked Venus were
"talismans d'amour." Les Intnillcs M0giLlrrL's Greco-Egyptietrres (Paris: Bibliothdque
National, Cabinet des M6dailles et Antjques, 7964),784;Weitzmann, Age of
Spiritunlity,3l 3-14.
27 "... the Creator endowed animals with anatomical parts uniqr-rely
fashioned for reproduction and bestowed on them the capacity for enjoying
extraordinary pleasure during sexual coupling ... Human sexual relations
are accompanied by a more exquisite ievel of pleasure than is found in other
animals. Further, the mental picture of the opposite sex imagined in the mind
of a lover is an important prerequisite to human mating because the image
 lane C. Long 6I

of a lovable woman has an exciting effect on a man when he perceives her

form with the eyes of his heart and, Iikewise, the fancied image of a desirable
man rouses a woman to yearn for sexual intimacy." Albert the Great, Mnn nnd
the Beasts: De animalibtts (Books 22 26), trans. ]ames J. Scanlan (Binghamton,
NY: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1987), 59-60. Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Contra Gentiles,III, I23,126, in On the Truth of the Cntholic Faith, trans.
Vernon J. Bourke (Garden City: Image Books, 1956), 312: L48, 155; Iohn F.
Bentory "Clio and Venus: An Historical View of Medieval Love," in The
Meaning of Courtly Loue, ed. Francis X. Newman (Albany: State University of
New York Press, 1968), 79-42. On consummation in medieval marriages, see
james A. Brundage, Law, Sex, rmd Christinn Society in Medieunl Europe (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1987), 447 457,503-5; and David L. D'Avray,
Medieztnl Mnrriage: Symbolism and Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2005), 168-99.

22 James A. Brundage, "Obscene and Lascivious: Behavioral Obscenity in Canon

the EttropearL Middle Ages,
Law," rn Obscenity: Social Control and Artistic Crention in
ed. Jan M. Ziolokowski (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 216-59.

23 Galen claimed that both male and female orgasms were necessary for
conception; he was followed by Avicenna and the Trotuln. See Vern L. Bullough,
"Medieval Medical and Scientific Views of Women," Vintor 5 (7971):485-501;
Howard D. Adelmann, Marcello Mnlpighi snd the Eaolution of Emhryolo,gy, vol.
2, pt.2, The Main Currents of Eriltryological ThotLght before Malpighl (Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press, 7987), 744 58; Rona Goffen, Titian's Women (New
Havery CT: Yale University P r ess, 1997), 152-53.
24 Earl G. Schreiber, "Venus in the Medieval Mythographic Tradition," lotLrnal of
English and Germanic Philologr,l 74 (7975):519 35; Teresa Trinkle , Medieonl Venuses
and Cupids: Sexuality, Hermeneutics, nnd English Poetry (Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press, 1996). Both scholars argue the complexity of the medieval vrew
of Venus.

25 Teseida, VII, 50, gloss; XII, 70, in Giovanni Boccaccio, The Book of ThesetLs, trans.
Bernadette Marie McCoy (New York: Medieval Text Association, I974),799,
327.

26 Gcnenlogia deorun gentiliunt, ed. Vincenzo Romano (Bari: G. Laterza, 1951'), I:

142-52.

27 Sarah Kay notes: "Venus is portrayed both within the full weight of clerical
condemnation of sensuality ... and as an irresistibly vital energy in a blighted
world," in "Venus in the Rornnn de Ia Rose," Exemplarial (1,997):7-37, at27.
Gr-rillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meury The Romsnce of the Rose, trans. Charles
Dahlberg, 3rd edn. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995), 79.
28 Trans. Peter Godman, "Literary Classicism and Latin Erotic Poetry of the
Twelfth Century and the Renaissance," tn Latin Poetry nnd the Classical Trnditiort:
Essays in Medieaal nnd Renaissance Literature, ed. Peter Godman and Oswyn
Murray (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990): 149 82, at 153-55.
29 Godman, "Literary Classicism," 157.
30 Greenhalgh, SuraiunL of Ronnn Antiquities, 202-3, has noted that thousands
of antique representations (including coins and gems) survived into the
medieval period, but references to them mostly disappeared around 500 cn.
See his discussion of "portable works of art," 21.9-38. See also Peter ZazoII,
Die nntiken Gemmen (Munich: C.H. Beck, 1983); and Pierre Alan Mariaux,
r
il
oz THL MEANINGS OF NUDITY IN MED]EVAL ART

"collecting (ancr Disptay) ," in A Cotnpaniott to Medieaar

j Art: RornanesqtLe
and Gothic irt Northern Europe, ed. Conrad Rudolph (Malden,
MA; Oxford:
Blackwell, 2070), 213-32.
31 The chalcedony intaglio is set in a nineteenth-century ring;
the museum dates
tl-re carving to ca. 200 rcn 100 cr (V&A website:
httpTlimiges.vam.ac.uk/
item/O106495/intaglio-venus-anadyomene/, accessed 1B Ju"ne 2010). See other
examples of venus intagtios in Martin Henig, A CorptLs
of Romnn Engrnued
Getnstones from British si /es (oxford: British Archaeorogical
Reports,'ivzs;;
Zazolr, Antiken Gentmen; and Erika Zwierlein-Dieht, A"ntike
Gemmen uncl ihr
Nachleben (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2007).

32 Albertus Magnus, Book of Minerals, trans. Dorothy wyckoff (oxford:

Crarendon
Press, 7967), 136. Arbert goes on to_ cite the powers
associated with ancrent gems
that are engraved with images of the planets, which clearly
overlap the pagan
gods; when hc gets to Venus he .efrains from discussing
h"r, b".uur" she is best
understood from other [undesirable, according to wyclioff]
texts, 143-44, n.23.
Albert believed that magic was demonic: "For the ,uir-rt,
say so, and it
is_the common opinion of ail persons, and it is "*p."r"ly
taught in thit pu.iof n"cromancy
which deals with images and rings and mirrors of venus and
seals of demons ...,,
Srunnn Theologine,Il,30, ii, cluoted by Lynn Thorndike,
A History of Mngtc ancl
Experimentnl scierzce (New york: Macrnil]|an and Corumbia
univ-ersity press,
7923),2:552. Dale KiT:y, ,,The Concept of Spolia,,, in A
Companionio Medieanl
Art: Romnnesque nnd Go_th-ic in Northern Europe, ed. Conrad Rudolph
(Malder;
MA; oxford: Blackwelr, 2010),233-s2, at 236, writes that medievar
lapidaries
"provide such detailed information about pagan iconography
that ttreir readers
could have deciphered many of the ancieni carvrngs on gems
as wet as we can
today."
For examples of antique gems of Venus given a Christian
interpretation,
see Hans WenLel, ,,Eine Kamee aus Lothringen in Florenz
und andere
Kunstka mmer-Gemmen, " l nh.rlt t.r ch d e r p r eu siis crten Kr.t
ns t s a mm r u n g en 64 (79 43):
7-76, at 11-13 (fig. 21); Erika Zwierrei'-Diehr, "'Interpretatio
chrisillnna,: Gems
on the Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne," in Engrnaed.
Gems: suraioals anrl
ReuiaaLs, ed. Clifford Marcorm Brown (wishingtory
DC: Nationar Gallery of Art;
Flanover, NH: Distributed by the University piess of New
England, 1997),63_g3;
idem, Antike Gentmen, 729, 778_79, 207, 264.

33 Picatrix: The Lntin version of the Ghiynt nl-hak?m. ed. David Edwi. pingree
(London: warburg Institute, university of London, 19g6); picntrix:
Uit traite tre
mngie midiittnl. trans. Bdatrice Bakhouche, Frdd6ric
Fauquier, and Brigitte p6rez_
Jean (Turnhout: Brepols, 2003).
34 PicntriL III.1.7; pingree, picntrix, g3; Bakhouche, picntrix,1g0.
A11 requests
regarding love and pleasures should go to Venus. When a
woman *ur.., ..,
make a man fall in rove with her she should say, "o venus,
spirit of love, you
who arrange friendships and unionsl It is from you that the
power of sensuarity
and love proceeds; from you flow good will and affections
u_o.rg men; through
you spirits that had souE;ht quarrels a'e reunited and abandon
wf,at they had
wanted for good things. From you comes the root of amorous
unions between
men and women. From you comes the root of generation.
It is you who draws
the spirit of one to another, and through you tiley unlte;
spirits a." airpor"a
to reciprocal love; and through your power loves generate.
O Venus, ytu who
are beautiful, you who give the power of amorous
union to those who request
it at your pleasure! I ask you by your names, by the name of
sublime and high
God, who created you and who gives you movement in
the sky and through
 lane C. Long 63

your_brilliance and by the firmament of your realm and of your power,

to
fulfill my prayer . . .'/ [my translatio n], picatrix,
rrr.7 .3r; pingree, iicstrix, 737-32;
Bakhouche, Picatrix, 234-3s. Ersewhere the text explains thut th"
first ,,decan,,
of raurus belongs to venus: "it is there images are made to create
love between
men and women." The third decan of virgo belongs to venus
to ,,create peace
and love of wives with their husbands." picatrix rr12.s, 19; pingree, picairix,
80,
81; Bakhouche, Picatrix, 167, 162.

Twycross, Medieaal Anadyomene, 80-87; David pingree, ,,Some

of the Sources
of the Ghryat al-hakim," lournal of the warburg and iourtauld Institutes
43 (1980):
1-15. sources also come from Egypt, India, and Mesopotamia.
on the ,,reuse,, of
antique stones, see, for example, Thomas of Cantimpre in Thorndike,
History oJ
Magic,2:389-92.
36 Picatrix,l.5, L1,0.29,55-67; pingree, picatrix, IS_77, 67,70_71; Bakhouche.
Picatrix,64-65, 1,43, r47.Lapis lazuli images of the venus Anadyomene
survrve,
including one in the Museo Archeologico in Frorence; zazori citegorizes
them as
"magical amulets," Antiken Gemmen, 3Sb, 359, 361,, figs. ttZ.t and,irc
l.
37 Master Gregorius, The Maraels of Rome, trans.
John osborne (Toronto: pontifical
Institute of Medieval Studies, 1987), Sg.
3B Master Gregorius, Marztels of Rome,26.

39 Michael Camille, The Gothic IdoI (Cambridge: Cambridge university press,

7989)' 84-85,88. on a medieval aesthetic outrook on ancient works
of art, see
Meyer schapir o' s 7947 article "on the Aesthetic Attitude in Romanesque
Arf ,,
in RomanesqLre,Arl (New york: George Braziller,1977),7_27. Schapiro,ig,
notes
that Guibert of Nogent and Hildebert of Le Mans both praised the appearance
of
"idols" while denigrating their spiritual effect.
40 Master Gregorus, Maraels of Rome,26.
41 Master Gregorius, Marztels of Rome,28.
42 Panofsky, Renaissance and Renascences, I1.2, describes Gregorius
as
,,filled
with wonder and uneasiness by the 'magical attraction, of that too beautiful
venusf' he provides no explanation of that reading. Camilre, Gothic IdoI,84,
that the highly detailed, physical descriplion ofvenus demonstrates
luggests
Gregorius's reliance on the model of antique elcphrases. He does not address
why Gregorius reserves that detailed appioach for his description of a nude
female, however.
43 "Tutti gli intendenti e dotti dell'arte delia scultura ed orefici e piftori
corsono
a vedere questa statua di tanta maraviglia e di tanta arte. Cias-cuno
[1a] lodava
mirabilmente; e grandi pittori che erano in quello tempo in Siena u .iur.rr.,o
pareva grandissima perfezione fosse in essa. E con molto onore la collocarano
in
su la loro fonte come cosa morta egregia . .. Avendo la terra moltissime
awerslra
di guerra . . . ' si levd un cittadino e parld sopra questa statua in questo tenore:
signori cittadini, avendo considerato aapoi 1cne1 noi trovammo questa statua
sempre siamo arrivati male, considerato quanto l'idolatria d proibita alla
nostra
fede, doviamo credere tutte re avversitir
[che] noi abbiamo, Iddio ce re manda
per I nostri errori." I commentari, ed. o. Morisani (Napies: Ricciardi,
1,947),86;
Creighton E. Gilberf "Ghiberti on the Destruction of Arf ,, I Tatti Stl:udies
O' 1wOS7,
735-44, at 740.

Gilberf "Ghibefti," 140; photograph of the ilustration in Bernhard Degenhart

and Annegrit schmitt, Corpus der italienischen Zeichnungen, 7300-14s0,
i/t lBerlin:
Gebr. Mann Verlag, 7968), 1,3816.
 64 THE MEANINGS OF NUDITY IN MEDIEVAL ART

45 Camille, Gothic ldol,341,-43; Richard Krautheimer and rrude

Krautheimer Hess,
Lorenzo Ghiberti (Princeton, NJ: princeton university press,
1 956), 277114.
46 From the records of the Concistoro, 7 November 7387 (c. ,,pro
9): statua fontis
Campi. Item quod statua marmorea ad presens in Fonie
Campi posita, quam
[c]itius potest tollatur ex inde [c]um inhonestum videatur; et fiai ex inde et de
ea quod Dominis Duodeclm videbitur et placebit." published
in ,,una statua
greca trovata in siena ner sec. Xry," Miscelranea storica
senese 5 (rg9l):17s-76,
at 176. The translation of the word inhonestus ranges
from dishonorable and
to unseemly and filthy; see in Charles T. Lewis and Charles
9i:qrT:fyl
Latin Dictionnry (oxford: Crarendon, 7969), gE3. Gilbert
Shorr, A
accepts Ghibertijs craim
that the sienese worried about idoratry and suggests it was
Lecause they seidom
enconntered classicar remains, "Gh1bertt," 141. He points
to other cities, with
greater familiarity with crassical relics, thathad a less
negative.espor-rs" 1fo.
exampie, the Roman statue of a draped female installed
on a founLin in ver.na
ca. 1368 that remains there today). Gilbert does not
distinguish that the crassical
statues that survived in his exampres were either males
oiclothed femares.
47 Geraldine A. Johnson, "Idor or Idear? The power and potency
of Female public
sculpture," in-Picturing women in Renaissance and BaroqtLe ltaiy,
ed. Geraldine A.
Johnson and sara F. Matthews Grieco (Cambridge: Cambridge University lr"rr,
I
7997), 22245, at 232i3, expresses similar ideas iegarding this statue.
4B "... fecit duos pueros ludentes nudos, qui fuerunt in atrio Titi
imperatoris, quo
opere nullum perfectius murti iudicaveiunt; unde hanc
scientiam'.o.,r.rr'-'-'uri"
iudicatur. Ego autem vidi Florentiae in domo privata statuam
veneris de
marmore mirabilem in eo habitu in quo olim pingebatur venus.
Erat enim
mulier speciossima nuda tenens manum sinsitram ad pudencla
dexteram
vero ad mammillas ...,, Commentary onpurgatorio,X,vv.2g-33.
The textis
available online from the Bibrioteca Italiana, Lniversitd
degli studi di Roma,
"La sapienza," http llwww.bibriotecaitaliana.itlxtflview?docld=bibitO01607/
bibit001607.xml&chunk.id:d7003e118&toc.id=&brand=default,
2008.
accesse d7 ApriI
49 ""' et dicebatur esse opus polycreit quod non credo quia ut dictum est
Polycletus sculpsit in aere, non in marmore.,,