[{"id":224,"date":"2022-04-01T04:03:35","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T04:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/am7420a\/?page_id=224"},"modified":"2022-04-21T13:36:45","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T13:36:45","slug":"hell","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/hell\/","title":{"rendered":"Hell: A Closer Look"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hell<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/section>
\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n

Explore the Iconography of the Seven Deadly Sins in Taddeo’s\u00a0Hell<\/em><\/h4>\n<\/div><\/section>\n
1<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
2<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
3<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
4<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
5<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
6<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
7<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
8<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
1
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

Satan<\/strong><\/p>\n

The devil presides over Hell in a demonic parody of the divine<\/p>\n

\n<\/div><\/div>

2
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

Pride<\/strong><\/p>\n

A vainglorious woman stares into a mirror as a demon defecates onto her shoulder. Below her, two men are being cut and sawed by demons.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div><\/div>

3
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

Envy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two men are being hanged by snakes. Demons eviscerate one man and force scorpions to crawl over the body of another.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div><\/div>

4
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

Gluttony<\/strong><\/p>\n

Devils force a monk, noblemen, and two women to eat in perpetuity.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div><\/div>

5
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

Avarice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Demons shove gold coins down the throats of hanged sinners. Another demon defecates gold coins into a mans mouth.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div><\/div>

6
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

Lust<\/strong><\/p>\n

An adulteress and pimp are whipped. Below them, a sodomite is tortured by demons pushing a stake through his body.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div><\/div>

7
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

Sloth<\/p>\n

Demons pull the long reddish blonde hair of female sinners as fire swirls around their bodies.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div><\/div>

8
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

Wrath<\/strong><\/p>\n

A female sinner is mounted by a demon. Around her, other sinners are being groped and choked.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

History and Society<\/span>

Bibliography<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/section>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Aristotle: Minor Works<\/em>, ed. Jeffrey Henderson and translated by W.S. Hett. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1936.<\/p>\n

Aston, Margaret. \u201cSegregation in Church,\u201d in Papers Read at the 1989 Summer Meeting and the 1990 Winter Meeting of the Ecclesiastical History Society<\/em> (Oxford: for the Ecclesiastical History Society by Basil Blackwell, 1990): 237-294.<\/p>\n

Augustine. City of God<\/em>, trans. Henry Bettenson. London: Penguin Classics, 2004.<\/p>\n

——-. On Genesis: Two Books on Genesis Against the Manichees and on the Literal Interpretation of Genesis<\/em>, trans. Roland J. Teske. Washington, D.C: Catholic University of America Press, 1991. ProQuest Ebook Central<\/em>, https:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/aul\/detail.action?docID=3134826. 148.<\/p>\n

Baraz, Michael. Medieval Cruelty: Changing Perceptions, Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period. <\/em>Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003. https:\/\/www-jstor-org.proxyau.wrlc.org\/stable\/10.7591\/j.ctvm2036f<\/p>\n

Barnett, Jenny Davis. “(Re)Visions of the Unicorn: The Case of Sc\u00e8ve’s D\u00e9lie (1544).” Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture<\/em> 7, 2 (2020): 86-114. https:\/\/digital.kenyon.edu\/perejournal\/vol7\/iss2\/3<\/p>\n

Caciola, Nancy. Discerning Spirits: Divine and Demonic Possession in the Middle Ages. <\/em>Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003.<\/p>\n

Campbell, Jean. The Game of Courting and the Art of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1290-1320. <\/em>Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.<\/p>\n

Caviness, Madeline. Visualizing Women in the Middle Ages: Sight, Spectacle, and Scopic Economy<\/em>. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001.<\/p>\n

Clark, Elizabeth A. Women in the Early Church, <\/em>ed. Thomas Halton. Wilmington: M. Glazier, 1983.<\/p>\n

Cohen Esther. \u201cThe Expression of Pain in the Later Middle Ages: Deliverance, Acceptance, and Infamy.\u201d In Bodily Extremities: Preoccupation with the Human Body in Early Modern European Culture. <\/em>Edited by Florike Egmond and Robert Zwijnenberg. Florence: Taylor & Francis Group, 2003.<\/p>\n

——-. The Modulated Scream: Pain in the Late Medieval Ages<\/em>. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2010.<\/p>\n

\u200b\u200bCole, Bruce. \u201cSome Thoughts on Orcagna and the Black Death Style,\u201d Antichit\u00e0 Viva<\/em>. Florence: Casa Editrice Edam, 1983. 27-37.<\/p>\n

Crawford, Katherine. \u201cSexuality: Of Man, Women, and Beastly Business.\u201d \u00a0In A Cultural History of the Human Body in the Renaissance<\/em>. Ed. L. Kalof and W. Bynum (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010): 55-72.<\/p>\n

\u200b\u200bCropper, Elizabeth. \u201cOn Beautiful Women, Parmigianino, Petrarchismo<\/em>, and the Vernacular Style,\u201d Art Bulletin <\/em>58, no. 3 (1976): 374-394.<\/p>\n

Davidson, Nicholas. \u201cTheology, Nature, and the Law: Sexual Sin and Sexual Crime in Italy from the Fourteenth to the Seventeenth Century.\u201d In Crime, Society, and the Law in Renaissance Italy. <\/em>Edited by Trevor Dean and K.J.P. Lowe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 74-98.<\/p>\n

Derbes, Anne and Mark Sandona. \u201cBarren Metal and the Fruitful Womb: The Program of Giotto\u2019s Arena Chapel in Padua.\u201d The Art Bulletin<\/em> 80, no. 2 (1998): 274-291.<\/p>\n

Dempsey, Charles. The Portrayal of Love: Botticelli\u2019s \u2018Primavera\u2019 and Humanist Culture at the Time of Lorenzo the Magnificent<\/em>. Princeton: University of Princeton Press, 1992.<\/p>\n

Dunlop, Ann. \u201cFlesh and the Feminine: Early-Renaissance Images of the Madonna with Eve at Her Feet,\u201d <\/span>Oxford Art Journal<\/span><\/em> 25, no. 2 (2002): 127-148.<\/span><\/p>\n

Durandus, William. The Symbolism of Churches and Church Ornaments: A Translation of the First Book of the \u201cRationale divinorum officiorum,\u201d <\/em>ed. J.M. Neale and B. Webb (London: 1906). https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/43319\/43319-h\/43319-h.htm.<\/p>\n

Easton, Martha. \u201cGender and Sexuality.\u201d A Cultural History of Hair in the Middle Ages<\/em>, edited by Roberta Milliken, 107-122. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019.<\/p>\n

——-. \u201cThe Wound of Christ, the Mouth of Hell: Appropriations and Inversions of Female Anatomy in the Later Middle Ages.\u201d The Making and Meaning of Illuminated Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Art, and Architecture<\/em>, edited by Susan L\u2019Engle and Gerald B. Guest, 395-414. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2006.<\/p>\n

Edgerton, Samuel Y. Pictures and Punishment: Art and Criminal Prosecution During the Florentine Renaissance. <\/em>Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985. https:\/\/hdl-handle-net.proxyau.wrlc.org\/2027\/heb.01281. EPUB.<\/p>\n

Friesen, Ilse E. \u201cSaints as Helpers in Dying: The Hairy Holy Women Mary Magdalene, Mary of Egypt, and Wilgefortis in the Iconography of the Late Middle Ages.\u201d Death and Dying in the Late Middle Ages, <\/em>edited by Edelgard E. DuBruck and Barbara I. Gusick, 239-53. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1999.<\/p>\n

Gardner, Edmund G., and Helen M. James. The Story of Siena and San Gimignano<\/em>. Project Gutenberg, 2014.<\/p>\n

Giorgi, Luca and Pietro Matracchi, The Towers of San Gimignano. Architecture, Town, Restoration. <\/em>Florence: DidaPress, 2019. https:\/\/issuu.com\/dida-unifi\/docs\/giorgi-matracchi_libroweb<\/p>\n

Lansing, Carol. \u201cGender and Civic Authority: Sexual Control in a Medieval Italian Town.\u201d Journal of Social History<\/em> 31 (1997): 33-59.<\/p>\n

Lindquist, Sherry. \u201cConfronting Power and Violence in the Renaissance Nude.\u201d Iris Blog. Getty, December 4, 2018. http:\/\/blogs.getty.edu\/iris\/confronting-power-and-violence-in-the-renaissance-nude\/<\/p>\n

Maginnis, Hayden B.J. \u201cLay Women and Altars in Trecento Siena.\u201d Notes in the History of Art<\/em> 28, no. 1 (2008): 5-7.<\/p>\n

Mann, Griffith. \u201cFrom the Creation to the End of Time: The Nave Frescoes of San Gimignano\u2019s Collegiata and the Structure of Civic Devotion.\u201d ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2002.<\/p>\n

Mann, William E. \u201cAugustine on Evil and Original Sin.\u201d In The Cambridge Companion to Augustine<\/em>, ed. Eleonore Stump and Norman Kretzmann. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. doi:10.1017\/CCOL0521650186.004.<\/p>\n

Meiss, Millard. Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death<\/em>. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1951.<\/p>\n

Milliken, Roberta. Ambiguous Locks: An Iconology of Hair in Medieval Art and Literature<\/em>. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2012.<\/p>\n

Mills, Robert. Suspended Animation: Pain, Pleasure, and Punishment in Medieval Culture. <\/em>London: Reaktion Books, 2005.<\/p>\n

Nassar, Eugene. \u201cThe Iconography of Hell: From the Florence Baptistery to the Michelangelo Fresco.\u201d Dante Studies, with the Annual Report of the Dante Society<\/em>, no. 11 (1993): 53-105.<\/p>\n

Nethersole, Scott. Art and Violence in Early Renaissance Florence. <\/em>New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.<\/p>\n

Norman, Diane. \u201cThe Case of the Beata <\/em>Simona: Iconography, Hagiography, and Misogyny in Three Paintings by Taddeo di Bartolo,\u201d Art History <\/em>18, no. 2 (1995): 154-184.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Daly, Gerard J.P. \u201cCreation, the Fall, and the Regime of the Passions: Books 11-14.\u201d In Augustine\u2019s City of God: A Reader\u2019s Guide.<\/em> Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. 164-188.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Meara, John. \u201cSaint Augustine\u2019s Understanding of the Creation and Fall.\u201d The Maynooth Review<\/em> 10 (1984): 52-62 .http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/20556975.<\/p>\n

Raber, Karen.\u201cThe Common Body: Renaissance Popular Beliefs.\u201d In A Cultural History of the Human Body in the Renaissance<\/em>. Ed. L. Kalof and W. Bynum (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010): 99-124.<\/p>\n

Randolph, Adrian W.B. \u201cRegarding Women in Sacred Space.\u201d In Picturing Women in Renaissance and Baroque Italy<\/em>, ed. Geraldine A. Johnson and Sara F. Matthews Grieco (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997): 17-41.<\/p>\n

Reames, Sherry L. \u201cThe Legend of Mary Magdelen, Penitent and Apostle: Introduction.\u201d Middle English Legends of Women Saints<\/em>, edited by Sherry L. Reames. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2003.<\/p>\n

Rocke, Michael. Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence. <\/em>Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.<\/p>\n

Ruda, Jeffrey. \u201cSatan\u2019s Body: Religion and Gender Parody in Late Medieval Italy,\u201d Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies <\/em>37 (2006): 319-350.<\/p>\n

Savonarola, Girolamo. Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498<\/em>. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.<\/p>\n

Seeing the Face, Seeing the Soul: Polemon\u2019s Physiognomy from Classical Antiquity to Medieval Islam, <\/em>ed. Simon Swain; with Contributions by George Boys-Stones [and Five Others]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. 433.<\/p>\n

Solberg, Gail E. \u201cTaddeo di Bartolo: His Life and Work,\u201d Proquest Dissertations Publishing, 1991.<\/p>\n

Steinberg, Leo. \u201cThe Ubiquity of the Erection Motif.\u201d In The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and Modern Oblivion<\/em>, 2nd ed, 298-325. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.<\/p>\n

Tomas, Natalie. \u201cDid Women Have a Space,\u201d in Renaissance Florence: A Social History<\/em>. Ed. Roger Crum and John Paoletti. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 311-328.<\/p>\n

Weir, Anthony and James Jerman. Images of Lust: Sexual Carvings on Medieval Churches<\/em>. London: Batsford Academic and Education, 1986.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3802,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-205","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":164,"date":"2022-03-31T22:14:03","date_gmt":"2022-03-31T22:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/am7420a\/?page_id=164"},"modified":"2022-04-19T15:29:15","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T15:29:15","slug":"acknowledgements","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/acknowledgements\/","title":{"rendered":"Acknowledgments"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEDIEVAL MISOGYNY:<\/h3>\n

Taddeo di Bartolo\u2019s\u00a0Hell<\/em>\u00a0and the Presentation of Sexual Pain and Punishment<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/section>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Master\u2019s Capstone Project submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of American <\/span>University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s of Arts in Art <\/span>History. <\/span>2022<\/span>, American <\/span>University, Washington DC.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Chair: Dr. Kim Butler Wingfield<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Reader: <\/span>Dr. Joanne Allen<\/span>. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

Acknowledgments<\/h3>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

I would first like to thank my advisor, Dr. Kim Butler Wingfield.\u00a0 Her commitment, wealth of knowledge, and advice have been essential to me during the process of completing this thesis capstone. Secondly, I would like to thank my second reader, Dr. Joanne Allen, for all of her feedback, encouragement, and commitment to my project. Both of them have helped transform my project into something I am proud of. Thank you, truly.<\/p>\n

I would also like to thank Dr. Sam Sadow for giving me the opportunity to hone my WordPress skills. His leadership and advice has enriched my experience during the past two years at American University.<\/p>\n

To my family, thank you for everything. To my parents and grandparents: thank you for your encouragement and support. You have invested in me, and I hope I have made your belief in me worth it.<\/p>\n

To my siblings: thank you for keeping me accountable and tolerating my ramblings about Medieval art history. You three will always be my first (and greatest) friends.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

\n

Disclaimer & Fair Use <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>

This website, consisting of the capstone project by <\/span>Ashleigh Molina<\/span> for her Master\u2019s in Art <\/span>History at America<\/span>n<\/span> University (Washington, DC), may contain copyrighted material, t<\/span>he use of <\/span>which may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material contained in <\/span>this website is distributed without profit for research and educational purposes.<\/span>

This should constitute a \u2018fair use\u2019 of any such copyrighted mater<\/span>ial (referenced and provided for in <\/span>section 107 of the US Copyright Law).<\/span>

If you wish to use any copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond <\/span>\u2018fair use,\u2019 you must obtain expressed permission from the copyright owner.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div> <\/div> <\/div><\/section>\n

Fair Use Statement <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>

Fair Use<\/span><\/strong>
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for \u201cfair <\/span>use\u201d for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and <\/span>research. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fair use is a use permitted by copyrig<\/span>ht statute that might otherwise be infringing.<\/span>

Fair Use Definition<\/span><\/strong>
Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material <\/span>without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as commentary, criticism, <\/span>news reporting, <\/span>research, teaching, or scholarship. It provides for the legal, non<\/span>–<\/span>licensed citation or incorporation of <\/span>copyrighted material in another author\u2019s work under a four<\/span>–<\/span>factor balancing test.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div> <\/div> <\/div><\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Ashleigh Molina; ashleighmolina9@gmail.com<\/h4>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Introduction<\/span>

Overview of Taddeo’s\u00a0Last Judgment<\/em> Program<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/section>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Paradise &<\/span> Christ as Judge<\/h3>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Taddeo di Bartolo\u2019s (c. 1363-1422) late fourteenth century Last Judgment<\/em> fresco program is one example of a Collegiata commission produced during this period of redefinition and development. The Sienese artist\u2019s fresco cycle concluded the previous Old and New Testament fresco commissions (created early fourteenth century), bringing the cycle of salvation to its natural conclusion. (1)<\/p>\n

During a construction project undertaken around 1239, the town of San Gimignano decided to reverse the orientation of the pre-existing church. (2) The old church\u2019s apsidal wall became the new Collegiata\u2019s facade. Created 1410-1420, after the reorientation of the church, Taddeo\u2019s Last Judgment <\/em>program consists of three large murals located on the upper nave walls above the arcade of the central vessel [fig. 4]. Upon entering the Collegiata, and whilst facing the altar, Paradise <\/em>is on the right upper nave walls of the central vessel and Hell <\/em>is on the left, where women typically sat during the full congregation.<\/p>\n

On the right side of the central nave, the Virgin Mary and Jesus preside over Paradise [fig. 2]. Running parallel to the Old Testament frescoes, the Virgin and Christ sit enthroned within a circular ray nimbus, and below them winged angels serenade the celestial space with instruments. The angels provide the separation between the divine Christ and Mary and the terrestrial blessed, who line the bottom of the frescoes in neat, orderly rows. To the right of Paradise <\/em>is a fresco depicting Christ as Judge above seated apostles [fig. 3]. Christ is represented seated in a ring of rainbows and surrounded by winged seraphs. Each apostle is labeled with a titulus <\/em>in the vernacular underneath their feet. (3) Above them, angels carry the instruments used in Christ\u2019s passion, the arma Christi<\/em>. (4) The armed angels and named prophets Elijah and Enoch surround the enthroned Christ, whose position at the upper center of the reverse-facade completes the typological and genealogical connections between the Old and New Testament.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n

<\/div>
<\/div>
\"\"<\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/a>
<\/div>
\"\"<\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/a>
<\/div>
\"\"<\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Hell<\/h3>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\n

[Fig. 5]<\/strong> Taddeo di Bartolo, <\/span>Hell<\/span><\/em>, fresco, ca. 1410-1420, S. Maria Assunta, Collegiata, San Gimignano.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div>\n

Hell<\/em> is located on the left side of the central vessel, when viewed from the main entrance, and is complete with a laboring Satan and a myriad of demons torturing and punishing sinners [fig. 5]. Hell <\/em>is sectioned into multiple compartments corresponding to the seven cardinal sins and labeled as thus: pride, envy, gluttony, lust, and avarice. The labels for the two lower-most sections are now illegible, although they can be presumed to have read \u201csloth\u201d and \u201canger.\u201d (5) Theological and social anxieties surrounding female sexuality are present in the fresco, visualized through visceral punishments directed towards women\u2019s bodies. For example, in Sloth a woman endeavors to protect herself as a demon grabs her hair and hooks his fingers into her mouth in a show of dominance. This emphasis on the deliberate torture of women\u2019s bodies is the subject of this capstone, as it has not been extensively highlighted in previous scholarship.<\/p>\n

Taddeo placed Satan at the center of the top register, with \u201cpride\u201d and \u201cenvy\u201d on his left and right side, respectively. Below that, in the middle register, lie \u201cgluttony,\u201d \u201cgreed,\u201d and \u201clust.\u201d Notably, Taddeo placed \u201clust\u201d closer to the center of hell, near Satan. In doing so, Taddeo denoted \u201clust\u201d as a greater sin than it was ranked in Dante\u2019s Inferno<\/em>. (6) Taddeo assigned labels to various figures, such as \u201cRuffiano<\/em> (pimp),\u201d \u201cAdulteress,\u201d and \u201cSodomite.\u201d The labeling of figures in Hell<\/em> separates and categorizes sinners, emphasizing their sinful acts and nature. Designation by titulus <\/em>ensures there is no mistaking the punished sin and transgression on the part of the literate people of the congregation, whose literacy would confer power and influence.<\/p>\n

Taddeo di Bartolo\u2019s Hell <\/em>fresco at the Collegiata of San Gimignano exemplifies medieval eschatological thought, consistent with the historical rise in Last Judgment scenes that were popular during the late Middle Ages. However, it differs from contemporary images due to its focus on female sexuality and the abundance of sexualized torture motifs present within the imagery.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n

Much of the scholarship analyzing Taddeo di Bartolo\u2019s Hell <\/em>fresco has situated it in comparison to precedents completed in Italy the century before. Citing compositional, motif, and formal similarities, scholars have noted the influences of the Last Judgment<\/em> at Camposanto (Pisa, c. 1340s), Giotto\u2019s Last Judgment<\/em> at the Scrovegni Chapel (Padua, c. 1306), and Nardo di Cione\u2019s Hell <\/em>detail of the Last Judgment at the Strozzi Chapel (Florence, c. 1354-57). Taddeo\u2019s Hell <\/em>does share important similarities with these three precedents, such as the inclusion of a monstrous, gestating Satan. However, unlike in these examples where sexual imagery is restricted to certain areas, <\/em>Taddeo did not limit the representation of sexualized punishment to the compartment containing \u201clust,\u201d nor to those whose sin was expressly sexual in nature. Moreover, the bodies at the Collegiata\u2019s Hell<\/em> are swollen and distended in a way that is not present in precedents. This display of disgusting and marked nakedness makes obvious the sinfulness of the figure: the corrupted soul expressed through the disfigured body. (7)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n

This capstone analyzes the unprecedented emphasis on the sexual torture of female bodies in this fresco, building upon C. Griffith Man’s preliminary consideration of the gendered imagery present within the fresco. Mann proposed that the prevalence of sexual violence lends itself to an intended female audience, noting Hell<\/em>\u2019s location near the female side of the congregation. (8) Mann also dissected the sexualized imagery, suggesting rape trials, Bernardino of Siena\u2019s sermons against ornamented hair, and other sermons as pertinent contexts. (9) He wrote that this imagery was chosen because \u201cthese details provided the frescoes with a means of reaching one of the parish\u2019s most regular constituents, even if in a language that was uncomfortably and insistently sexist.\u201d (10) He concluded by stating that the imagery targeted women because they would then transmit these lessons within the domestic sphere to their husbands and children. (11) Situating this imagery within a discussion of contemporary punishments and statutes in Tuscany, this thesis argues that the misogyny permeating the larger communal culture informed the imagery of the fresco, thereby intensifying its moral message in a more specifically local context. In this scene of the Last Judgment, which often acted as a message of caution towards the congregation, the fundamental question posed is: how did these motifs of female punishment illustrate fourteenth and fifteenth century Italian anxieties surrounding sex and sexuality in the commune of San Gimignano? (12)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

Hell: A Closer Look<\/span>
<\/span><\/span>

(1) Griffith Mann, \u201cFrom the Creation to the End of Time: The Nave Frescoes of San Gimignano\u2019s Collegiata and the Structure of Civic Devotion,\u201d (ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2002), 410.<\/span><\/p>\n

(2)<\/span>\u00a0Luca Giorgi and Pietro Matracchi, <\/span>The Towers of San Gimignano. Architecture, Town, Restoration. <\/span><\/em>Florence: DidaPress, 2019.<\/span> https:\/\/issuu.com\/dida-unifi\/docs\/giorgi-matracchi_libroweb<\/span><\/p>\n

(3) Although Taddeo made much use of tituli in his <\/span>Hell<\/span><\/em> fresco, he did not invent the technique. In fact, Nardo di Cione utilized the technique for his <\/span>Hell<\/span><\/em> (1354-57) in the Strozzi Chapel in Florence, as did the artist of the <\/span>Hell <\/span><\/i>(c.1350) fresco at the Camposanto Monumentale di Pisa.<\/span><\/p>\n

(4)<\/span>\u00a0Mann, 378-79.<\/span><\/p>\n

(5) <\/span>Mann, 386.<\/span><\/p>\n

(6)<\/span>\u00a0In Dante\u2019s <\/span>Inferno<\/span><\/em>, he grouped the sins of gluttony, avarice, and lust together. However, he viewed them as less grievous sins than those of sloth and wrath. Taddeo preserved Dante\u2019s grouping but reversed their order. By placing the compartments of gluttony, avarice, and lust right under the zone containing Satan, Taddeo marked them as more serious sins than Dante, who held their location as farther away from the figure of ultimate evil (Solberg, 810).<\/span><\/p>\n

(7)<\/span>\u00a0Early modern doctors equated the quality of the soul to the quality of the body. For example, a disease waging war on the body might have been seen in correlation to a disease of the soul; prior wrong acts would act out their consequence on the physical, exterior body. See Karen Raber, \u201cThe Common Body: Renaissance Popular Beliefs,\u201d in <\/span>A Cultural History of the Human Body in the Renaissance<\/span><\/em>, ed. L. Kalof and W. Bynum (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010): 105-106.<\/span><\/p>\n

(8)<\/span>\u00a0Mann, 411.<\/span><\/p>\n

(9)<\/span>\u00a0Mann, 411-415.<\/span><\/p>\n

(10)<\/span>\u00a0Mann, 414.<\/span><\/p>\n

(11)<\/span>\u00a0Mann, 415.<\/span><\/p>\n

(12)<\/span>\u00a0Mann, 422-423.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3802,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-123","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":75,"date":"2022-03-11T21:50:39","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T21:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/am7420a\/?page_id=75"},"modified":"2022-04-01T03:38:20","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T03:38:20","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div>
\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Medieval Misogyny:<\/h1>\n

Taddeo di Bartolo’s\u00a0Hell<\/em> and the Presentation of Sexual Pain and Punishment<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/section>\n
Enter<\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3802,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-75","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/75\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":61,"date":"2022-03-11T21:36:08","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T21:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/am7420a\/?page_id=61"},"modified":"2022-04-20T21:59:30","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T21:59:30","slug":"conclusion","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/conclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Conclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conclusion<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/section>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Taddeo included these punished women in his fresco for theological purposes. Their punishment was meant to act as a warning for Christians, who listened to sermons preaching the horrors of hell that awaited those who turned their back on the teachings of the church and Christ. For all their theological and erudite references, these women are still male-imagined figures, which then have tangible social repercussions for real women. (1) The lustful depictions of fictional or allegorical women created by male artists led men to then rationalize their views regarding real women as dangerous or lustful, legitimating discriminatory practices and attitudes towards women.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, Taddeo di Bartolo\u2019s Hell<\/em> has been discussed for its comparative qualities towards other Trecento depictions of Hell. Scholars have noticed Hell<\/em>\u2019s unique preoccupation with sexual torture, unusual in comparison to other Trecento examples like Giotto\u2019s Last Judgment <\/em>in the Schrovegni Chapel and Nardo di Cione\u2019s Hell <\/em>at the Strozzi Chapel, and although sexualized imagery is present within these, it is limited and prescribed to a singular section of the image, Lust. By instead focusing singularly on Taddeo\u2019s Hell <\/em>for this capstone project, Hell\u2019<\/em>s imagery is shown to have been informed by its position in its original setting, which necessitated the examination of women\u2019s experiences in church spaces. The fresco\u2019s misogynistic imagery is contextualized through the understanding that women encompassed a large part of its intended viewership and it was therefore designed with didactic, explicitly gendered content. This context of female viewership aids in the argument that Taddeo\u2019s Hell<\/em> acts as a pedagogical moral message to the congregation, one that is centered around the female propensity for sin that, when combined with the verbiage spewed by preachers and priests, results in a perceived justified need to control women. Combining a discussion of viewership with an examination of the symbolic imagery within the fresco offered Taddeo\u2019s Hell<\/em> as a case study exploring late medieval Italian perceptions of women, their bodies, and their sexualities.<\/p>\n

Inscribing his Hell <\/em>with misogynistic beliefs about the female body and women\u2019s propensity for sinful behavior, Taddeo di Bartolo synthesized the town of San Gimignano\u2019s complicated feelings towards crime and sin, through the inclusion of images of sexual punishment and pain. Ultimately, Taddeo\u2019s Hell<\/em> is an image for the living, a foreboding caution for the future, as well as a warning against the inclination of women towards sin.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

Bibliography<\/span>
<\/span><\/span>

(1) Sherry Lindquist, \u201cConfronting Power and Violence in the Renaissance Nude,\u201d Iris Blog, Getty, December 4, 2018, http:\/\/blogs.getty.edu\/iris\/confronting-power-and-violence-in-the-renaissance-nude\/<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3802,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-61","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/61\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":60,"date":"2022-03-11T21:35:56","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T21:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/am7420a\/?page_id=60"},"modified":"2022-04-21T13:37:46","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T13:37:46","slug":"hair-female-signifier-of-sin","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/hair-female-signifier-of-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"Hair: Female Signifier of Sin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hair: Female Signifier of Sin<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/section>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

These implicit misogynistic societal views are visible within the imagery of Taddeo di Bartolo\u2019s Hell <\/em>fresco at the Collegiata church of San Gimignano. Although there is a greater number of men punished, when women are depicted on the fresco, they are overwhelmingly punished sexually or with sexualized methods of torture. These women are groped, prodded, and mounted by demons. One distinguishing feature these women share is long, loose reddish-blonde hair. Multiple women are shown with loose tangled hair that is grabbed by demons and twisted around demonic tails [figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, & 10].<\/p>\n

In the Middle Ages women were caught between conflicting messages regarding their appearance. Long, uncovered hair was acceptable for young women, as long as they were not too concerned with ornamentation. When married, by contrast, veiling and pinned up hair was the norm. (1) Women covering their hair once married was yet another way men regulated the bodies of women. \u201cWilder\u201d and closer to nature when young and unmarried, women were \u201ccivilized\u201d and controlled by their husbands when married. They were raised with the understanding that their appearance was the primary defining quality that would tell society they were good and beautiful and thus worthy of marriage. (2) However, too much attention paid to appearance would draw accusations of vanity. Roberta Milliken explained that \u201caccording to church fathers, women who display and style one of their most alluring feminine features, their long locks, are lust-filled\u2026to actually see a woman engaging in this behavior would amplify the eroticism of the act and its dire consequences.\u201d (3)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\n

[Fig. 13]<\/strong> Mad Matilda<\/em> (detail), Canterbury Cathedral, Trinity Chapel, stained glass, c. 13th century, Canterbury, United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div>

<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
\n

[Fig. 14]<\/strong> Anonymous, Winterfeld Diptych<\/em> (detail), c. 1430, National Museum in Warsaw.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Medieval images of sinful women depict this fixation of hair as a marker of female deviancy. Dating around the 13th century, one scene from the stained glass at Canterbury Cathedral depicts the figure of Mad Matilda of Cologne. In a detail located to the left of the central square, Matilda is shown in utter disarray as two men beat her with clubs [fig. 13]. Accused of infanticide, Matilda is marked as sinful in part due to the wild, unkept hair that haloes around her body, which writhes in a serpentine S curve away from the clubs.<\/p>\n

In the early centuries of Christianity, believers identified the figures of Mary of Bethany, sister of Lazarus and Martha in John\u2019s Gospel, and the \u2018sinner\u2019 in the Gospel of Luke named as Mary who anointed Jesus and wiped her tears off his feet with her hair, with the figure of Mary Magdalene. (4) Thus the visual persona of Mary Magdalene in the Middle Ages included many depictions of the woman with long free-flowing hair. Mary Magdalene is often present in scenes of the Crucifixion, where she is shown at the feet of Christ or visibly expressing her grief. For example, in a detail of Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni\u2019s The Crucifixion<\/em>, Mary Magdalene, witnessing Jesus\u2019s death, raises her hands up to heaven and yells in anguish [fig. 15]. She has long, curled blonde hair that hangs to her waist. It seems here that the emphasis is on Mary\u2019s love for Jesus, as she is in the process of expressing despair during the moment of his death. (5) As such, her long hair then serves as reference to her anointing of his feet as Mary in John\u2019s Gospel and \u2018sinner\u2019 in Luke, where she was overcome with emotion and used her hair to wipe her tears off the body of Christ.<\/p>\n

In line with medical beliefs that the character of the body is representative of moral quality, long disheveled hair was a marker of an immoral, loose woman. (6) \u201cGood\u201d women were in control of their virtue (sexuality) and so they controlled their hair, which was a public signifier for her sensual capability. It can also be a signifier for women who live outside the margins of male-controlled society, such as the Wild Woman, or even the Magdalene after the Resurrection. (7) According to The Golden Legend <\/em>(c. 1260), <\/em>after Jesus\u2019s resurrection, Mary travelled to France and lived alone as a contemplative hermit for thirty years. While in isolation, she grew her hair long to preserve her modesty. In the Winterfeld Diptych (c. 1430), by an anonymous artist, Mary Magdalene is shown surrounded by angels, ascending into the sky [fig. 14]. The Magdalene is clothed in tawny brown hair, covering her entire body and flowing from her head. Although her long hair is meant to protect her modesty, Martha Easton noted that images of the hermit Magdalene have very little visual difference to the iconography of the sexually promiscuous Wild Woman. (8) Mary\u2019s status as a hermit marks her as another type of woman who lives absent from men\u2019s control, her long hair also becoming a marker of untamed wild-ness.<\/p>\n

Hair was such a prominent feature of Taddeo\u2019s women because they represent and communicate cautionary tales of \u201cbad\u201d women. When combined with the depiction of their nude writhing bodies, the long reddish blonde hair of Taddeo\u2019s women denotes a connection between their femininity and their sexual sinful natures.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

In one of the more disturbing motifs from Taddeo\u2019s Hell<\/em>, a woman with long reddish blonde hair crouches on her hands and knees [fig. 16]. A demon kneels over her and raises an instrument in his hand to strike her as he sodomizes her with his serpentine tail. The woman is in a submissive crawling position, looking up morosely to the demon who assaults her. Her long hair hangs down in curls around her face. The tresses cover her chest, blocking the obscured view of her breasts. The bright lines of the woman\u2019s hair, an almost glowing strawberry blonde against a very dark background, draws the viewer\u2019s eye to her anguished face and then down to the webbed monstrous feet of the demon, surrounded by the fires of hell. From there, the eye is drawn up the demon\u2019s body and down to the tail, where it enters the woman\u2019s body. In another scene of torture, a female demon (the only one in the fresco) pierces a woman\u2019s genitals [fig. 7]. The tortured woman\u2019s gaze meets the eyes of the female with an expression that gives the appearance of perverse intimacy. As another demon pours a vat of hot fiery liquid over her head, the woman attempts to cover her chest in a display of modesty and defense that perhaps comes a little too late. A third demon winds his tail through the woman\u2019s very long hair. Above her, to the left, another woman is shown with a demon grabbing her hair, as he uses the fingers on his other hand to pull her mouth apart in an act of domination and humiliation.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n

<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
\n

[Fig. 15]<\/strong> Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni, The Crucifixion <\/em>(detail), fresco, c. 1416, Oratorio of St. John the Baptist, Urbino, Italy.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div>\n

These women are defined by their hair; it marks their femininity and the sexuality associated with that designation. The woman viewing these tortured figures would view them through the lens of their own experience. From a young age, they heard the admonitions from religious and familial leaders that controlled hair is a marker of a \u201cgood\u201d woman. Seeing these sinful women so visually defined by their hair would assign them a label of \u201csinful.\u201d (9) The regulation of sexual punishment centered around the hair of sinful women in the fresco echoed the real-life regulation women endured every day.<\/p>\n

In addition to having long, loose hair, Taddeo\u2019s women also appear to have reddish blonde hair. The mixing of blond with red proffered two sets of negative significations: blonde with the erotics of poetic artifice and red with additional ideas of wildness and sin. Many Early Modern poets created the formulation of their own poetic beauties from Petrarch\u2019s stylistic descriptions of Laura. (10) Over time, a portrait of the poetic beloved emerged from the ornamental vernacular tradition of Petrarch: long blonde hair, high forehead, delicate features, and a pale but lightly flushed complexion. (11) It is this aesthetic ideal that enthralled the poet and drew him in. The power of a woman’s beauty held in it the ability to create love and desire. Painters depicted real, mythological, and biblical women as these blonde poetic beauties, attempting to portray a figure\u2019s inner beauty through outward visual attributes outlined by the poets.(12) Indeed these ideals proved to be extremely widespread, as fifteenth-century preachers became increasingly critical of women paying too much attention to appearance, as they sought to emulate this popular poetic ideal. (13)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

Polemon of Laodicea, a second century Greek philosopher whose treatise on physiognomy survives in a fourteenth century Arabic translation, assigned certain characteristics to people having red or reddish colored hair:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAs for red hair that turns towards whiteness…it indicates a lack of understanding and knowledge and an evil way of life, so be very sure about this…As for ugly red hair, I do not praise it, nor do I praise its owner. You will often see hair that is redder than these, and their character resembles that of animals. In them is a lack of [modesty] and a love of covetousness.\u201d (14)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Polemon was not alone in his distrust of red-haired people. In Physiognomics<\/em>, attributed to Aristotle, the author, in his comparison of bodily characteristics to animal qualities, wrote \u201cthe reddish [haired] are of bad character; witness the foxes.\u201d (15) Polemon\u2019s tirade inferred moral characteristics based on the color of one\u2019s hair. His negative feelings about red hair were due to a perceived character fault that was inherent in redheads: that they are incapable of control and thus are overtly greedy or desirous. (16) In Taddeo\u2019s \u201cGluttony,\u201d two women, alongside noblemen and a friar, sit at a dinner table, restrained by snakes and forced by demons to stare at food that they are unable to eat [fig. 17]. The reddish blonde hair of the woman on the left hangs long and loose. It frames her bare breasts, drawing attention to her sinful nakedness. In \u201cLust,\u201d a woman on the left grimaces as her breast is groped by a dog-like demon who has his leg and arms wrapped around her [fig. 10]. Another woman, marked \u201cadulteress\u201d by a label above her head, is in the process of being whipped by a demon. Both women appear to have long reddish blonde hair and are punished in contrapasso<\/em>. A sexual sin begets sexual punishment, exemplified by the women getting groped and whipped. Taddeo transcribed warnings about sexual punishment and sinful nature within \u201cLust\u201d by conflating and applying the established sexual undertones inherent in contrapasso<\/em> and red hair imagery onto the bodies of his punished women.<\/p>\n

The reddish-blond hair of these female figures only served to increase the negative associations that viewers were meant to feel when viewing the fresco. Loose red-blond hair held negative connotations that symbolized a lustful person drawn to an evil, overtly desirous nature. Taddeo thus ensured that a message of sexual caution would be delivered to his viewers by emphasizing the sinful and lustful nature of the punished women through the depiction of these attributes.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n

<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
\n

[Fig. 10]<\/strong> Taddeo di Bartolo, Hell <\/em>(Lust detail), fresco, c. 1410-1420, San Gimignano, S. Maria Assunta.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
\n

[Fig. 16]<\/strong> Taddeo di Bartolo, Hell <\/em>(Wrath detail), fresco, c. 1410-1420, San Gimignano, S. Maria Assunta.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
\n

[Fig. 17]<\/strong> Taddeo di Bartolo, Hell <\/em>(detail), fresco, c. 1410-1420, San Gimignano, S. Maria Assunta.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Conclusion<\/span>
<\/span><\/span>

(1) <\/span>Roberta Milliken, <\/span>Ambiguous Locks: An Iconology of Hair in Medieval Art and Literature<\/span><\/em>. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2012. 113.<\/span><\/p>\n

(2) <\/span>Milliken, 4.<\/span><\/p>\n

(3) <\/span>Milliken, 113.<\/span><\/p>\n

(4) <\/span>Ilse E. Friesen, \u201cSaints as Helpers in Dying: The Hairy Holy Women Mary Magdalene, Mary of Egypt, and Wilgefortis in the Iconography of the Late Middle Ages.\u201d <\/span>Death and Dying in the Late Middle Ages<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>edited by Edelgard E. DuBruck and Barbara I. Gusick, 239-53. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.<\/span><\/p>\n

(5) <\/span>Sherry L. Reames encourages one to be critical about which persona of the Magdalene is portrayed. In the Salimbenis\u2019 <\/span>Crucifixion<\/span><\/i>, I believe that she is playing that part of Jesus\u2019s loving disciple because of her long hair. It is before her relocation to France as a hermit, so her long hair might then be a reference to her sensual past as the \u2018sinner\u2019 in Luke. See Sherry L. Reames, \u201cThe Legend of Mary Magdelen, Penitent and Apostle: Introduction,\u201d <\/span>Middle English Legends of Women Saints<\/span><\/em>, edited by Sherry L. Reames. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2003. https:\/\/d.lib.rochester.edu\/teams\/text\/reames-middle-english-legends-of-women-saints-legend-of-mary-magdalen-introduction<\/span><\/p>\n

(6) <\/span>Martha Easton, \u201cGender and Sexuality,\u201d in <\/span>A Cultural History of Hair in the Middle Ages<\/span><\/em>, edited by Roberta Milliken. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. 114.<\/span><\/p>\n

(7) <\/span>Easton, 117.<\/span><\/p>\n

(8) <\/span>Easton, 117.<\/span><\/p>\n

(9) <\/span>\u201cSo whether one recognizes an individual woman or not, once one notices her hair being used to torment her, one can reasonably conclude that her sin involves sexual misbehavior.\u201d Milliken, 5.<\/span><\/p>\n

(10) <\/span>Elizabeth Cropper, \u201cOn Beautiful Women, Parmigianino, <\/span>Petrarchismo<\/span><\/i>, and the Vernacular Style,\u201d <\/span>Art Bulletin <\/span><\/em>58, no. 3 (1976): 386.<\/span><\/p>\n

(11) <\/span>Cropper, 386-88, 391.<\/span><\/p>\n

(12) <\/span>Charles Dempsey, <\/span>The Portrayal of Love: Botticelli\u2019s \u2018Primavera\u2019 and Humanist Culture at the Time of Lorenzo Magnificent<\/span><\/em>. Princeton: University of Princeton Press, 1992. 60.<\/span><\/p>\n

(13) <\/span>Decades after <\/span>Hell<\/span><\/i>\u2019s creation, Girolamo Savonarola held sermons detailing the dangers of vainglory, and of women in particular, the danger of \u201cvain or lascivious\u201d concerns that might provoke God\u2019s Wrath. He later had blonde wigs, books of poetry, cosmetics, and paintings burned in his Bonfires of Vanities. See Girolamo Savonarola, <\/span>Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498<\/span><\/em>. New Haven: Yale University PRess, 2006. 246-251.<\/span><\/p>\n

(14) <\/span>Seeing the Face, Seeing the Soul: Polemon\u2019s Physiognomy from Classical Antiquity to Medieval Islam<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>ed. Simon Swain; with Contributions by George Boys-Stones [and Five Others]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. 433.<\/span><\/p>\n

(15) Aristotle: Minor Works<\/em><\/span>, ed. Jeffrey Henderson and translated by W.S. Hett. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1936. 127.<\/span><\/p>\n

(16) <\/span>The descriptor\u00a0 \u201clove of covetousness\u201d seems especially apt for those guilty of the sin of avarice. However, in Taddeo\u2019s compartment depicting the avaricious, none of the figures appear to have red toned hair [fig. 12].<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3802,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-60","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":59,"date":"2022-03-11T21:35:45","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T21:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/am7420a\/?page_id=59"},"modified":"2022-04-20T21:43:42","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T21:43:42","slug":"the-laboring-satan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/the-laboring-satan\/","title":{"rendered":"The Laboring Satan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Laboring Satan<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/section>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>

Taddeo di Bartolo, Hell (Detail of Laboring Satan), fresco, ca. 1410-1420, S. Maria Assunta, Collegiata, San Gimignano.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
\n

[Fig. 12]<\/strong> Taddeo di Bartolo, Laboring Satan <\/em>(detail), fresco, ca. 1410-1420, S. Maria Assunta, Collegiata, San Gimignano.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div>\n

Taddeo\u2019s Satan is a monstrous figure. The sickly green devil is shown with a wide opening between his legs [fig. 12]. While the opening is not an exact representation of a vagina, as it is split horizontally and not vertically, the location between the legs of Satan as well as the sinner emanating from it leads to connotations of female genitalia and childbirth. Between his legs emerges a damned sinner, trapped in an endless infernal cycle of death. Taddeo\u2019s inclusion of the anthropomorphized vagina emphasizes the misogyny of the laboring Satan motif, as it provides a more direct reference to female genitalia, which is then demonized through the infernal birthing process. Vaginal motifs were present in other medieval works of art, such as the apotropaic sheela-na-gig grotesques found on cathedrals, though these contain less explicit misogynistic imagery. (1) Through the inclusion of these feminine anatomical motifs, the sinfulness of the female body, rationalized through their sex-based connection to Eve and \u201ccolder\u201d humoral temperaments, has now been attributed to Satan.<\/p>\n

Satan resides over Hell<\/em> as a perverse parody of Christ and Mary in Paradise<\/em>. In Paradise<\/em>, the hierarchically enlarged figures of Christ and the Virgin Mary sit enthroned above groups of the blessed and angels who stare up towards them in adoration. By contrast, in Hell<\/em>, Satan is surrounded by sinners who writhe in terror and pain. As the largest figure in the composition, his size and upper, centralized location create a sense of domination over the scene, like Christ and Mary. However, whereas the orderly blessed in Paradise<\/em> stare in devotion up to Christ and his mother, the figures in Hell <\/em>exist in frenzied chaos. The neat veneration present in Heaven does not exist within Satan\u2019s Hell.<\/p>\n

In each hand Satan holds a sinner, ready to be ingested. The tripartite heads of Satan form another parody of the divine, as the three heads are a caricature of the Holy Trinity. (2) Jeffrey Ruda analyzed this feminized Satan as a parody of the masculine generative power of Christ, illustrated through the image of Christ as Judge. (3) Ruda wrote that this imagery emasculates the devil due to the attribution of a vagina, which means that \u201che cannot engender life, unlike the fully male Jesus Christ…the feminization of Satan mocks both him and the sinners by degrading physical birth, which is made as disgusting as defecation, and possibly merges with it- in contrast with the clean rebirth offered by Christ.\u201d (4) This misogynistic, and increasingly naturalistic imagery makes a mockery of the birthing process and turns a typically \u2018feminine\u2019 experience into a devilish deterrent, acting as a warning to the audience to not turn their backs on the teachings of the clergy that audibly surround them as they contemplate this imagery. (5) This warning was directed in particular to women, whose bodily experiences, which largely defined their essential societal role as wives and mothers, are being cruelly mocked and degraded.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>

Hair: Female Signifier of Sin<\/span>
<\/span><\/span>

(1) Anthony Weir and James Jerman, Images of Lust: Sexual Carvings on Medieval Churches<\/em>. London: Batsford Academic and Education, 1986. 11-22.<\/p>\n

(2) Gail E. Solberg, \u201cTaddeo di Bartolo: His Life and Work,\u201d Proquest Dissertations Publishing, 1991, 806.<\/p>\n

(3) Jeffrey Ruda, \u201cSatan\u2019s Body: Religion and Gender Parody in Late Medieval Italy,\u201d Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies<\/em> 37 (2006): 325.<\/p>\n

(4) Ruda, 325.<\/p>\n

(5) The use of pregnancy to parody divine generation and salvation is not unique to San Gimignano\u2019s Collegiata. Giotto, in the Scrovegni Chapel, depicted an eviscerated Judas that seems to echo the experience of childbirth. Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona\u00a0 argue that this pseudo-pregnancy imagery is an inversion of the Virgin Mary. Usury as a corrupted fecundity is the defining framework for the chapel, so the redemptive power of Mary\u2019s pregnancy is juxtaposed with Judas and his association to the avaricious sin of usury. See: Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona. \u201cBarren Metal and the Fruitful Womb: The Program of Giotto\u2019s Arena Chapel in Padua.\u201d The Art Bulletin<\/em> 80, no. 2 (1998): 274-291.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3802,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-59","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/59\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":58,"date":"2022-03-11T21:35:34","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T21:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/am7420a\/?page_id=58"},"modified":"2022-04-20T21:40:22","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T21:40:22","slug":"the-open-closed-body","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/the-open-closed-body\/","title":{"rendered":"The Open\/Closed Body"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Open\/Closed Body<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/section>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Medieval theologians formulated and perpetuated sexist views through complicated constructions of gendered moral character, building on their conceptualization of the soul and its role in sin. This section will delve deeper into the physiological rationalizations for women\u2019s inherent sinfulness.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s propensity towards sin was explained due to their bodily difference from men. Nancy Caciola dissected popular treatises on women that perpetuated misogynistic beliefs using humoral theory. She argued that due to beliefs in the difference between male and female physiognomy, women were classified as more impressionable and thus more susceptible to demonic influences and possession. (1) Medieval thinkers sorted women into \u201ccolder\u201d humeral complexions, which caused \u201cmelancholic\u201d and \u201cphlegmatic\u201d temperaments, while men were noted to have a \u201chotter\u201d complexion, resulting in \u201ccholeric\u201d and \u201csanguine\u201d temperaments. Caciola explained that eventually medieval scholars conflated the temperaments and complexions with constructions of gender, so \u201ccolder\u201d temperaments became coded as female, and \u201chotter\u201d as male. (2) Women having these \u201ccolder\u201d temperaments were seen as having a more permeable nature and a predictor for \u201cmoral instability.\u201d (3) Caciola wrote \u201cthe open\/sealed duality is inscribed upon the body not only as a matter of gender but as a result of the individual\u2019s moral status…the normatively male body type is aligned with inviolacy and virtue; the normatively female, with transgression and sin.\u201d (4) While men\u2019s closed, hot bodies made them, at a base level, more morally \u201cgood,\u201d women were aligned with inherently sinful tendencies that would be harder for them to resist. As noted in another section, women\u2019s colder bodies also correlated to their placement to the northside of churches.<\/p>\n

Men and women were both believed to have been created with their souls in the image of God; however, only adult men existed as reflections of Christ, whose physical male body they shared. (5) Christ\u2019s body as the bringer of redemption and salvation gave men a more positive association with the divine, as women\u2019s physical bodies were distanced from the male. (6) Men\u2019s bodies were also given positive representation in the male Adam, who was typologically connected with Christ. On the other hand, women were associated with the sinful, temptuous Eve, who had been connected with the devil. (7) Eve, and the female body associated with her, becomes an extension of the devil, almost existing in his image rather than God\u2019s. (8) Not being created within the physical image of God and lacking the internal heat afforded to men, women\u2019s physical bodies were defenseless and open for demonic possession and influence. If women were already presumed to be predisposed to sin and transgression, Taddeo di Bartolo was consistent with cultural norms in ensuring that the implicit warning message of the Last Judgment demonstrates moral admonition to women especially.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

The Laboring Satan<\/span>
<\/span><\/span>

(1) Nancy Caciola, Discerning Spirits: Divine and Demonic Possession in the Middle Ages <\/em>(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003), 130.<\/p>\n

(2) Caciola, 144.<\/p>\n

(3) Caciola, 144.<\/p>\n

(4) Caciola, 157.<\/p>\n

(5) For example, priests would state \u201cthis is my body\u201d during the performance of the Eucharist.<\/p>\n

(6) Caciola, 127.<\/p>\n

(7) Caciola, 137.<\/p>\n

(8) Medieval Italians viewed Eve\u2019s body ambivalently. While her body did hold connotations of sin and temptation, there was also a prevalent Marian typology embedded within the figure of Eve. See Kim E. Butler, \u201cThe Immaculate Body in the Sistine Ceiling,\u201d Art History<\/em> 32, no. 2 (2009): 250-289. Butler describes the body of Adam and Eve as typological precedents for Christ and Mary (Butler, 259).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3802,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-58","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":57,"date":"2022-03-11T21:35:23","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T21:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/am7420a\/?page_id=57"},"modified":"2022-04-20T21:38:15","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T21:38:15","slug":"eve-the-originator-of-the-sin-of-lust","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/taddeoscollegiatahell\/eve-the-originator-of-the-sin-of-lust\/","title":{"rendered":"Eve: The Originator of the Sin of Lust"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eve: The Originator of the Sin of Lust<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/section>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>

Olivuccio di Ciccarello, The Madonna of Humility with the Temptation of Eve, tempera and gold on wood panel, c. 1400, The Cleveland Museum of Art.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
\n

[Fig. 11]<\/strong> Olivuccio di Ciccarello, The Madonna of Humility with the Temptation of Eve<\/em>, tempera and gold on wood panel, c. 1400, The Cleveland Museum of Art.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div>\n

St. Augustine understood Original Sin as not an event, but a condition imposed by God for Adam and Eve\u2019s disobedience, which produced a certain susceptibility toward sexual lust. (1) In his Literal Commentary on Genesis, <\/em>Augustine, contemplating the role of Adam in the Fall, wrote:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIf Adam were already spiritual (in mind, at least, if not in body), how could he have believed what the serpent said?…woman was given to man, woman who was of small intelligence and who perhaps still lives more in accordance with the promptings of the inferior flesh than by the superior reason…that through her the man became guilty of transgression.\u201d (2)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Augustine states that Eve’s susceptibility, caused by her \u201csmall intelligence\u201d and propensity to follow \u201cinferior flesh,\u201d is what led Adam to temptation and sin. Elsewhere in the Commentary<\/em>, Augustine explained that \u201cfor he called the man the head of the woman, and Christ the head of the man, and God the head of Christ.\u201d (3) The inferiorly minded Eve was subservient to Adam, who was made in God\u2019s image under Christ, yet Augustine assigned most of the fault to her. As the first woman, Eve came to represent the sinful, tempting nature inherent in all <\/em>women. Women were subservient to men, but somehow, it was a woman\u2019s fault for the tempting of Adam.<\/p>\n

In City of God<\/em>, Augustine expanded upon the Fall and its consequences for humanity. He wrote, in an explanation of Eve\u2019s role in the Fall:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201c…so we cannot believe that Adam was deceived, and supposed the devil\u2019s word to be truth, and therefore transgressed God\u2019s law, but that he by the drawings of kindred yielded to the woman, the husband to the wife, the one human being to the only other human being…because the woman accepted as true what the serpent told her, but the man could not bear to be severed from his only companion, even though this involved a partnership in sin.\u201d (4)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Augustine thus assigned blame to both Adam and Eve. Eve was tempted by the serpent to sin, perhaps due to the aforementioned \u201csmall intelligence;\u201d Adam was not tempted in a similar way, instead he complied due to their relationship and the vice of pride. Augustine rationalized desire as the loss of the soul\u2019s control over the body as a consequence of the Fall. (5)<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>

<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/p>\n

Best expressed through the rebelliousness of the sexual organs, Augustine theorized that the separation between pre-and postlapsarian humanity is the human body\u2019s lost of control over desire. (6) Sexual desire happens whether we willed it or not, and thus original sin is transmitted through these unruly feelings of lust. (7) So then, the sin of lust, that uncontrollable desire, is directly a result of the temptation of Eve and the subsequent Fall. Women were associated with Eve, who was seen as the originator of the sin of lust, through her perceived temptation of Adam leading to the fall. Eve was the harbinger of concupiscence, a sin that then became conscribed as part of women\u2019s nature.<\/p>\n

The cultural legacy of Eve is visible within Hell<\/em>. Like Eve, Taddeo\u2019s women are naked, have long blonde hair, and one even interacts with a snake. In the section of Lust, a snake bites the genitals of a tortured woman and another snake-like demon tail winds itself through her loose hair, pulling her upwards [fig. 7]<\/a>. Serpents swirl around the image, visually linking the sinner\u2019s human body with the demonic. The iconography of the snake is a visual allusion to the figure of Eve through the imagery of her temptation by the serpent in the garden, which was often paired with images of the Virgin Mary in medieval art. For example, Olivuccio di Ciccarello\u2019s c.1400 The<\/em> Madonna of Humility with the Temptation of Eve <\/em>presents a clear dichotomy between the chaste Virgin Mary and the sinful Eve [fig. 11]. (8) Reflecting the medieval theological concept that set Eve and Mary in direct moral opposition, the nude, long blonde-haired body of Eve, made even more tantalizing by a drapery of cloth fallen away from her shoulders, stands in stark contrast with the single exposed breast of Mary, who nourishes the Christ Child, reminding the viewer of her divine intercessory capabilities. (9) Even while staring at the scene of the Virgin and Christ Child, Eve is tempted to raise the forbidden fruit to her lips by the human-headed snake emerging from between her legs, a motif with obvious sexual overtones, evoking her beguiling role in the Fall. Medieval theological thought placed much blame on Eve\u2019s disobedience as the cause of the Fall. The primordial Eve came to represent the sexually sinful, tempting nature inherent in all <\/em>women, and as such, Taddeo\u2019s sinful women share similar iconography with representations of Eve.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

The Open\/Closed Body<\/span>