italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
Dr. Maria Anna Calamia spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk
Medieval mural's tales of sorcery
John Hooper in Rome
Tuesday December 28 2004
The Guardian
A mural which has come to light in Tuscany has been identified by a British university lecturer as the earliest surviving representation of witchcraft in Christian Europe.
A book published in Italy by George Ferzoco, director of the centre for Tuscan studies at the University of Leicester, argues that at least two of the women in the porno-erotic wall painting are sorceresses.
"I have no doubt that this is by far the earliest depiction in art of women acting as witches," he said.
The 13th-century mural was discovered four years ago at Massa Marittima, a town south-west of Siena. Dr Ferzoco believes it was intended as a warning, by supporters of the papacy, of the anarchy and licentiousness that would supposedly engulf the town if it fell into the hands of their political rivals.
That would give the bizarre mural an additional significance as the only surviving example of a medieval political "poster".
"I'm not aware of any work that comes remotely close to this one in terms of being blatant 'party' propaganda," Dr Ferzoco said.
The big, richly coloured painting - seven metres high - was discovered under layers of subsequent over-painting next to a fountain in the centre of Massa Marittima. It shows a tall, spreading tree with two groups of women standing below it.
The first thing that was noticed about the tree was its unusual "fruit". Apparently sprouting from the branches are 25 phalluses.
That led to the painting being dismissed as a fertility symbol. But, after an inch-by-inch examination, Dr Ferzoco became convinced this was not the case.
The key to his interpretation lies with one of the women in the group on the left, holding up a stick. It had been assumed that she was trying to knock the "fruit" out of the tree or scare away the birds that are depicted flying across the picture.
"No one noticed that, at the very top of her stick, there is a bird's nest," said Dr Ferzoco, who recalled a passage from the "inquisitors' manual", the Malleus Maleficarum, which had long baffled and amused scholars.
In its description of witches' practices, intended to help witch-hunters identify their prey, it says they were in the habit of robbing men of their genitals.
"[Witches] sometimes collect male organs in great numbers, as many as 20 or 30 members together, and put them in a bird's nest, or shut them up in a box, where they move themselves like living members, and eat oats and corn," wrote the authors of the Malleus Maleficarum.
Published in 1486, the manual brought together much of the legend surrounding sorceresses that had grown up in previous centuries.
Two of the other women in the mural are tearing at each other's hair as they appear to fight for possession of just such a magically liberated penis as the one described in the Malleus Maleficarum. On the other side of the woman with a stick another is being sodomised by another free-wheeling, or rather free-floating, male organ.
"In the middle ages, heretics did one thing above all and that was sodomy," Dr Ferzoco said. "To the medieval Italian mind, it was an act that exemplified unnaturalness, disharmony and lack of community."
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join italian-studies YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave italian-studies
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html
|