Gardens of Love and the Limits of Morality in Early Netherlandish Art (Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 296 / Brill's Studies on Art, Art History, and Intellectual History, 37)

"In Gardens of Love and the Limits of Morality in Early Netherlandish Art, Andrea Pearson charts the moralization of human bodies in late medieval and early modern visual culture, through paintings by Jan van Eyck and Hieronymus Bosch, devotional prints and illustrated books, and the celebrated enclosed gardens of Mechelen among other works. Drawing on new archival evidence and innovative visual analysis to reframe familiar religious discourses, she demonstrates that depicted topographies advanced and sometimes resisted bodily critiques expressed in scripture, conduct literature, and even legislation. Governing many of these redemptive greenscapes were the figures of Christ and the Virgin Mary, archetypes of purity whose spiritual authority was impossible to ignore, yet whose mysteries posed innumerable moral challenges. The study reveals that bodily status was the fundamental problem of human salvation, in which artists, patrons, and viewers alike had an interpretive stake"-- Provided by publisher Front Matter -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Acknowledgements -- Figures -- The Erotics of Virtue -- Moralized Love -- Disability and Redemption -- Monastic Morality -- Holy Matrimony -- Infancy Moralized -- Kissing Kids -- The Limits of Mother-Son Eroticism -- Back Matter -- Bibliography -- Index Acknowledgements ix List of Figures xi Introduction: The Erotics of Virtue 1 1. Moralized Love 29 2. Disability and Redemption 81 3. Monastic Morality 125 4. Holy Matrimony 159 5. Infancy Moralized 197 6. Kissing Kids 227 Epilogue: The Limits of Mother-Son Eroticism 297 Bibliography 317 Index 347