Abject Eroticism in Northern Renaissance Art: The Witches and Femmes Fatales of Hans Baldung Grien (International Library of Visual Culture)

Hans Baldung Grien, the most famous apprentice and close friend of German artist Albrecht Dürer, was known for his unique and highly eroticised images of witches. In paintings and woodcut prints, he gave powerful visual expression to late medieval tropes and stereotypes, such as the poison maiden, venomous virgin, the Fall of Man, 'death and the maiden' and other motifs and eschatological themes, which mingled abject and erotic qualities in the female body. Yvonne Owens reads these images against the humanist intellectual milieu of Renaissance Germany, showing how classical and medieval medicine and natural philosophy interpreted female anatomy as toxic, defective and dangerously beguiling. She reveals how Hans Baldung exploited this radical polarity to create moralising and titillating portrayals of how monstrous female sexuality victimised men and brought them low. Furthermore, these images issued from-and contributed to-the contemporary understanding of witchcraft as a heresy that stemmed from natural 'feminine defect,' a concept derived from Aristotle. Offering new and provocative interpretations of Hans Baldung's iconic witchcraft imagery, this book is essential reading for historians of art, culture and gender relations in the late medieval and early modern periods. Hans Baldung Grien, l'apprenti le plus célèbre et ami proche de l'artiste allemand Albrecht Dürer, était connu pour ses images uniques et très érotiques de sorcières. Dans ses peintures et gravures sur bois, il a donné une expression visuelle puissante aux thèmes et stéréotypes du Moyen Âge tardif, tels que la vierge empoisonnée, la vierge venimeuse, la chute de l'homme, "la mort et la jeune fille" et d'autres motifs et thèmes eschatologiques, qui mêlaient les qualités abjectes et érotiques du corps féminin. Yvonne Owens analyse ces images à la lumière du milieu intellectuel humaniste de l'Allemagne de la Renaissance, en montrant comment la médecine classique et médiévale et la philosophie naturelle ont interprété l'anatomie féminine comme toxique, défectueuse et dangereusement séduisante. Elle révèle comment Hans Baldung a exploité cette polarité radicale pour créer des représentations moralisatrices et séduisantes de la façon dont la monstrueuse sexualité féminine persécutait les hommes et les rabaissait. De plus, ces images sont issues de la compréhension contemporaine de la sorcellerie en tant qu'hérésie qui découle d'un "défaut féminin" naturel, un concept emprunté à Aristote, et y ont contribué. Proposant des interprétations nouvelles et provocantes des images de sorcellerie emblématiques de Hans Baldung, ce livre est une lecture essentielle pour les historiens de l'art, de la culture et des relations entre les sexes à la fin du Moyen Âge et au début des temps modernes "Hans Baldung Grien, the most famous apprentice and close friend of German artist Albrecht Durer, was known for his unique and highly eroticised images of witches. In paintings and woodcut prints, he gave powerful visual expression to late medieval tropes and stereotypes, such as the poison maiden, venomous virgin, the Fall of Man, 'death and the maiden' and other motifs and eschatological themes, which mingled abject and erotic qualities in the female body. Yvonne Owens reads these images against the humanist intellectual milieu of Renaissance Germany, showing how classical and medieval medicine and natural philosophy interpreted female anatomy as toxic, defective and dangerously beguiling. She reveals how Hans Baldung exploited this radical polarity to create moralising and titillating portrayals of how monstrous female sexuality victimised men and brought them low. Furthermore, these images issued from - and contributed to - the contemporary understanding of witchcraft as a heresy that stemmed from natural 'feminine defect,' a concept derived from Aristotle. Offering new and provocative interpretations of Hans Baldung's iconic witchcraft imagery, this book will be essential for historians of art, culture and gender relations in the late medieval and early modern periods"-- Provided by publisher