Critical Social Inquiry 0241 - Renaissance Bodies

Ever since Leonardo da Vinci produced his anatomical drawings and German artists studied corpses of executed prisoners, the visual arts and the medical sciences converged. While artists strove for the anatomically "correct" representation of eroticized male and female nudes, scientists enhanced the truth-value of their anatomical drawings by employing the new classicizing style. Also in religious art, spiritual truths were conveyed in a sensuous, erotic manner, as the many depictions of semi-nude saints, Christ, and the Virgin Mary demonstrate. In addition to viewing Renaissance and Baroque artworks, we will read recent historical scholarship and primary literature on the discovery of the clitoris and the emergence of lesbian desire; anatomical representations of gender difference; the professionalization of midwifery; the debates surrounding wet-nursing and virginal lactations; male menstruation; homoeroticism in Renaissance portraits; and the invention of the erotic nude in Venetian art. Mix of shorter papers on the reading assignment plus an independent research paper. Fieldtrip to the Met depending on availability of funds.

Culture, Humanities, and Languages Independent Work Writing and Research Students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time.