The Imagery and Politics of Sexual Violence in Early Renaissance Italy

309 Pages·2023·26.294 MB·English

by  Péter Bokody

THE IMAGERY AND POLITICS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE
IN EARLY RENAISSANCE ITALY
This book is the first comprehensive study of images of rape in Italian
painting at the dawn of the Renaissance. Drawing on a wide range of
primary sources, Péter Bokody examines depictions of sexual violence in
religion,law,medicine,literature,politics,andhistorywritingproducedin
kingdoms (Sicily and Naples) and city-republics (Florence, Siena, Lucca,
Bologna,andPadua).Whilemisogynisticendorsementcharacterizedmany
of these visual discourses, some urban communities condemned rape in
their propaganda against tyranny. Such representations of rape often link
genderandaggressiontowar,abduction,sodomy,prostitution,pregnancy,
and suicide. Bokody also traces how the new naturalism in painting,
introduced by Giotto, increased verisimilitude, but also fostered imagery
that couplederoticismandviolation.Exploring imagesandtextsthat have
long been overlooked, Bokody’s study provides new insights at the inter-
sectionofgender,policy,andvisualculture,withevidentrelevancetoour
contemporary condition.
Péter Bokody is Associate Professor of Art History in the School of
Society and Culture at the University of Plymouth. He is the author of
Images-within-Images in Italian Painting (1250–1350): Reality and Reflexivity
(Ashgate, 2015) and the co-editor of Renaissance Metapainting (Harvey
Miller Publishers, 2020).
Published online by Cambridge University Press
Published online by Cambridge University Press
THE IMAGERY AND
POLITICS OF SEXUAL
VIOLENCE IN EARLY
RENAISSANCE ITALY
PÉTER BOKODY
University of Plymouth
Published online by Cambridge University Press
ShaftesburyRoad,Cambridgecb28ea,UnitedKingdom
OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,ny10006,USA
477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,vic3207,Australia
314–321,3rdFloor,Plot3,SplendorForum,JasolaDistrictCentre,NewDelhi–110025,India
103PenangRoad,#05–06/07,VisioncrestCommercial,Singapore238467
CambridgeUniversityPressispartofCambridgeUniversityPress&Assessment,
adepartmentoftheUniversityofCambridge.
WesharetheUniversity’smissiontocontributetosocietythroughthepursuitofeducation,
learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781009100687
doi:10.1017/9781009122528
©CambridgeUniversityPress&Assessment2023
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisions
ofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace
withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress&Assessment.
Firstpublished2023
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJBooksLimited,PadstowCornwall
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
names:Bokody,Péter,author.
title:TheimageryandpoliticsofsexualviolenceinearlyRenaissanceItaly/PéterBokody,
UniversityofPlymouth.
description:Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2023.|Includesbibliographical
referencesandindex.
identifiers:lccn2022041543(print)|lccn2022041544(ebook)|
isbn9781009100687(hardback)|isbn9781009113977(paperback)|
isbn9781009122528(epub)
subjects:lcsh:Rapeinart.|Sexcrimesinart.|Painting,Italian–Themes,motives.|
Painting,Renaissance–Italy–Themes,motives.|Art–Politicalaspects–Italy–History–To
1500.|Artandsociety–Italy–History–To1500.
classification:lccn8237.8.r34B652023(print)|lccn8237.8.r34(ebook)|
DDC701/.03–dc23/eng/20221011
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2022041543
LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2022041544
isbn978-1-009-10068-7Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPress&Assessmenthasnoresponsibilityforthepersistence
oraccuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhis
publicationanddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
..........................................................................................
TheAssociationofArtHistorians(AAH)hasgenerouslysupportedthepublicationofthebook.
Published online by Cambridge University Press
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments page vii
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Propaganda and Rape 2
1.2 Sexuality 6
1.3 Politics 8
1.4 Painting 12
2 VICTIMS OF LUST 20
2.1 Sex Crimes in Gratian’s Decretum 31
2.2 Women in Last Judgement Scenes 46
3 MEDICALIZED MISOGYNY 68
3.1 Biopolitics of Pregnancy 76
3.2 Rape and Conception 83
4 RAPE AS A WEAPON OF WAR 101
4.1 Imperial Propaganda in Sicily 110
4.2 Self-Fashioning in Florence 119
4.3 Vicissitudes of Lucca, Arezzo, and Bologna 125
4.4 The Siege of Pisa (1406) 131
5 POLITICAL ALLEGORIES 146
5.1 Giotto di Bondone’s Injustice in Padua 149
5.2 Tyranny and the Rule of Ezzelino III
da Romano 156
5.3 Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s War in Siena 162
5.4 Wartime Sexual Violence in Sienese Chronicles 168
v
Published online by Cambridge University Press
vi CONTENTS
6 ABDUCTION IN ILLUSTRATED ROMANCES 182
6.1 Hesione and Helen in the Matter of Troy 187
6.2 Robert of Anjou and Ancient History until Caesar 206
6.3 Christine de Pizan and Giovanni Boccaccio 218
7 LUCRETIA AND THE RENAISSANCE OF RAPE 228
7.1 Narratives of Desire and Liberty 234
7.2 Giovanni Vitelleschi and His Studiolo in Corneto 241
8 CONCLUSION 257
Bibliography 265
Index 293
Published online by Cambridge University Press
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Initial work on this book dates back to the Iconology of Law and Order
conference at the University of Szeged (2008), a Medieval Art in Theory
workshop on framing at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London (2009)
and the Iconology at the Crossroads conference at the Center for Iconographic
Studies in Rijeka (2012). The support and hospitality of the respective organ-
izers – György Szo˝nyi, Laura Cleaver, Hanna Wimmer, Stuart Whatling,
Marina Vicelja, and Colum Hourihane – gave a formative early impetus to
the project. The contrast between the allegory of Justice and Injustice in the
Arena Chapel was first a pictorial question, with the absence and presence of
frames.However,thegenderedsocialcontextofthefrescoeswasthenalready
evident. Only after I had started to examine the surviving fourteenth-century
visual and textual evidence on sexual violence did I begin to realize the
magnitude of the problem and the radical aspects of Giotto’s composition.
This study is about reconstructing the circumstances of its extraordinary
political proposition.
OurmovetoPlymouthin2014broughtmetoaninstitutionalenvironment
open to implement this project. I thank my colleagues, Darren Aoki, Sandra
Barkhof, Annika Bautz, Gemma Blackshaw, Harry Bennett, Brian Campbell,
Rachel Christofides, Mary Costello, James Daybell, Claire Fitzpatrick, Jenny
Graham,JamesGregory,DanielGrey,LouisHalewood,DanielMaudlin,Joel
Merriner, Ella S. Mills, Elaine Murphy, Simon Topping, Elizabeth Tingle,
Jameson Tucker, Jody Patterson, and Nicola Wakeham, for their advice and
supportduring these years whileIhave beentrying tofindabalance between
feminist, visual, and historical approaches.
In the UK, the community of Trecento scholars in Giotto’s Circle con-
vened by Joanna Cannon remained the place to discuss various stages of the
book. I am grateful to Federico Botana, Laura Jacobus, and John Renner for
their continuing interest in my work and the opportunities to present at
Queen Mary University and the Murray Seminar at Birkbeck. In the USA,
thesamegoesfortheTrecentoForumconvenedbyJudithSteinhoff,andIthank
her and the organizers of the Andrew Ladis Memorial conference for allowing
me to test some of the core arguments.
vii
Published online by Cambridge University Press
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Fellowships in the Istituto Universitario Olandese (Florence, 2016) and
BildEvidenz – Center for Advanced Studies (Berlin, 2018) made longer spells
of intensive research possible. Michael W. Kwakkelstein, Gert Jan van der
Sman,KlausKrüger,andFriederikeWillehavemygratitudefortheinvitations
and ensuing guidance. Similarly, the book could not have been completed
without several visits to the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence, including
the Before Judgment: Critiquing Imagery and Style of Good and Evil conference
(2017). I thank Carolin Behrmann, Horst Bredekamp, Corinna Tania Gallori,
Hana Gründler, Alessandro Nova, and Gerhard Wolf for advising on the
directions of this study.
The anonymous reviewers of some early articles and the manuscript were
generous in sharing materials, and their constructive criticism shaped and
significantlyimprovedthefinalversion.Iwholeheartedlythankthemfortheir
timeandexpertise.IamgratefultotheAssociationofArtHistorians(AAH)for
supporting the publication of the book. And I am indebted to my editor,
Beatrice Rehl at Cambridge University Press, for her initial encouragements
and overseeing the production process.
Myfriendskindlyfollowedthematurationofthebook,andÁdámMestyán
and Zsófi Pohl offered valuable logistical assistance. The research and writing
process coincided with our leave from Hungary, and my parents and sister
helpedtoaccommodatethechangeanddealwiththedistance.Mywife,Julia
Bokody, accepted the toll writing this book took on our life – I am not sure
whetherIwilleverbeabletofindtheproperwordstothankherforthat.And
our son, Kilián, graciously waited two extra days after his due date so that
Icouldtypeupthebibliographyforthesubmissionoftheoriginalmanuscript–
probablyonlytohaveourundividedattentionforthefirstmonthsofhislifein
the midst of the pandemic.
Published online by Cambridge University Press
ONE
INTRODUCTION
I
mages of rape in late-medieval and early renaissance Italy belong to the
broaderquestionofsexualviolenceandsocietalresponsestoit.Bothaspects
are significant: These representations equally relate to the reality of rape and
collectiveideologicalresponsestoit.Ontheonehand,whatpeopledotoeach
otherdefineswhotheyare.Collectivebehavioralnormsandpatternsestablish
the boundaries of day-to-day interactions and organize life in a community.
They also turn people into particular versions of themselves. If they allow,
condone,orperformsexualviolationofothers,thismakesthemmembersofa
rape-prone society and potential rapists. Similarly, an ideal rape-free society
couldbedefinedbythecompleteeradicationofanysexualactundercoercion.
This opposition seems to offer an unambiguous distinction between commu-
nities based on consensual and nonconsensual sexuality.
Theissuewiththisdefinitionisnotonlythatmostsocietiesexistsomewhere
amid its two poles, but also the oft-significant gap between the common
practices and their public perception. Who we are and who we pretend to
be are entirely different matters. There are a large variety of rape-prone
societies and only some would recognize themselves as such. The same is true
fortheirconstituencies.Themechanismsofsilenceandmediatedcoercioncan
graduallysupersedethebluntuseofforce.Inthissense,thesexualexploitation
of the weak and unprotected can continue under the cover of an apparently
rape-free community. By denying its existence, fabricated perceptions of
sexual violence can maintain its widespread practices. This intricate link
1
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009122528.001 Published online by Cambridge University Press