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Author Archives: jillburke
Call for Papers, RSA 2014: Skin, Fur and Hairs: Animality and Tactility in Renaissance Europe
For Renaissance Europeans, animal fur was a desirable but complex material. It was a high status commodity, lining (or appearing to line) fine garments. Yet it was also an animal skin, as worn by Adam and Eve after the Fall. … Continue reading
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How to see people naked in Renaissance Italy
How to see naked men Seeing naked or near-naked men in the Renaissance does not seem to have been very difficult. I should point out that looking at naked people is not, necessarily, erotic. Indeed, the word for naked, nudo, … Continue reading
Posted in Renaissance nudes
Tagged body image, female nudes, feminism, Gender, nude, Renaissance, sexuality
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Did renaissance women remove their body hair?
Notoriously, on the wedding night of the celebrated art critic, John Ruskin and Effie Gray in 1848, Ruskin was so repelled by the sight of his bride’s body that he was unable to consummate the marriage. Effie Gray explained in … Continue reading
Posted in Renaissance nudes
Tagged body hair, body image, female nudes, feminism, Gender, nude, renaissance art, sexuality
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“Is she pregnant, or just out of shape?” Misogyny and description in art history
Posted in Renaissance nudes
Tagged body image, female nudes, Michelangelo, nude, Rosso Fiorentino
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The bureaucrat, the Mona Lisa, and leaving things rough
In early 2007, a rash of stories appeared in the international media about the discovery of the “true” identity of the Mona Lisa. The excitement was linked to the publication of a marginal note in an early printed edition of … Continue reading
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Vasari and Artistic Value
A couple of weeks ago, I took part in an event called “The irreverent interpretation: Before and After Vasari’s Lives of the Artists”, organised by the fantastic Transmission Gallery committee for the Glasgow Art Festival. I talked alongside Fiona Jardine … Continue reading
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Tagged art festival, renaissance studies, vasari, workshop system
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The Pitfalls of Genius: Leonardo and his frustrated patrons
I’m in the midst of giving several talks and papers – two in the last week, in Birmingham and Glasgow respectively, and one next week in Washington D.C. at the Renaissance Society of America conference. I thought I’d post my … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Leonardo da Vinci, patronage, Renaissance
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The Da Vinci Debate
Often, people who don’t have an in-depth knowledge of renaissance art use the short hand “Da Vinci” instead of “Leonardo”. Sometimes you will come across some cognoscenti admitting to “squirming” when they come across people referring to Da Vinci instead … Continue reading
Another priapic Vitruvian man!
This is just a quick addition to my previous post. One response to Cesariano’s man was a 1536 Italian edition of Vitruvius by Giovanni Battista Caporali. As far as I understand it, the passage about human proportion here was based … Continue reading
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Tagged Giovanni Battista Caporali, Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance, sexuality, Vitruvian Man
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Leonardo’s Measure – The Genitals of Vitruvian Men
There seems to have been something of a genital fixation amongst commentators on Vitruvius’ in the 1490s and early 1500s. Vitruvius’ book on architecture was a favourite for many renaissance theorists, and his small passage about human proportion was revisited … Continue reading
