Abject Eroticism in Northern Renaissance Art: The Witches and Femmes Fatales of Hans Baldung Grien

Hans Baldung Grien, a famous apprentice of Albrecht Durer, was known for his eroticized images of witches, which explored the toxic and beguiling nature of female anatomy. Yvonne Owens examines how these images were influenced by classical and medieval medicine and natural philosophy, revealing how they contributed to the contemporary understanding of witchcraft as a heresy.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 312 pages
\n Publication date: 18 December 2018
\n Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Hans Baldung Grien, the renowned apprentice and close companion of German artist Albrecht Durer, gained fame for his distinctive and intensely eroticized portrayals of witches. Through his paintings and woodcut prints, he vividly expressed late medieval tropes and stereotypes, including the poison maiden, venomous virgin, the Fall of Man, death and the maiden, and various other motifs and eschatological themes. These images, curated by Yvonne Owens, are analyzed within the humanist intellectual milieu of Renaissance Germany, shedding light on how classical and medieval medicine and natural philosophy perceived female anatomy as toxic, defective, and dangerously alluring. Owens reveals how Hans Baldung capitalized on this radical polarity to craft moralizing and titillating depictions of how monstrous female sexuality victimized men and brought them down. Moreover, these images emerged from and contributed to the contemporary understanding of witchcraft as a heresy rooted in natural feminine defect, a concept derived from Aristotle. This book offers fresh and thought-provoking interpretations of Hans Baldung's iconic witchcraft imagery, making it an indispensable resource for historians, art enthusiasts, and scholars interested in exploring gender relations and cultural developments in the late medieval and early modern periods.

\n Weight: 808g\n
Dimension: 162 x 240 x 27 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781784537296\n \n