Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: Erotic scenes
  • Creator: Memmo di Filipuccio, painter
  • Description: Part of a series of erotic frescoes depicting love and pleasure. On the left, a man and a woman bathe together in a bathhouse. In an earlier scene they had met in the street where the young woman was clothed in a magnificent white gown and had roses strewn at her feet. On the right, the man is about to climb into bed with the woman, who appears to be sleeping, as a chambermaid draws the curtains. C. Jean Campbell argues that this bathhouse sequence draws on the conventions of medieval romance to tell a story. As the main decoration in a private room set aside for the "podestà," it sets the tone for privacy and pleasure.
  • Source: Wikimedia Commons: Web Gallery of Art #15023
  • Rights: Public domain
  • Subject (See Also): Bathing Bedrooms Servants Sexuality
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 14
  • Date: 1310-1315
  • Related Work: The frescoes on the north wall depict the story of the Prodigal Son and the ill-fated love of Aristotle for Phyllis. In the lower lefthand corner, she is riding on his back and whipping him: http://www.style.it/lifestyle/tendenze/2011/01/01/musei-3d/3d.aspx/3d-9/scheda#?refresh=ce
  • Current Location: San Gimignano, Palazzo del Podestà, East wall of the Camera del Podestà
  • Original Location: San Gimignano, Palazzo del Podestà, East wall of the Camera del Podestà, a room one floor above the city’s council hall. Thought to have been used as a private chamber by the chief magistrate.
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Paintings
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Frescoes (paintings)
  • Donor:
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): //
  • Inscription:
  • Related Resources: Campbell, C. Jean. The Game of Courting and the Art of the Commune of San Gimignano, 1290-1320. Princeton University Press, 1998.