The Image of Celestina: Illustrations, Paintings, and Advertisements

The Image of Celestina is a study that explores the visual culture that developed around La Celestina, a Spanish literary masterpiece, including paintings, illustrations, and advertisements. It incorporates a visual studies approach and considers a variety of images, such as promotional posters, lobby pictures, and playbills, to illuminate the culture of Celestina, a mythical figure who surpasses the literary text in which she originated.

Format: Hardback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 29 January 2024
Publisher: University of Toronto Press

La Celestina, a Spanish literary masterpiece, holds immense importance in Spanish literature, second only to Don Quixote. Its influence has been profound since its inaugural edition in 1499, with subsequent centuries marked by numerous illustrated editions, imaginative portraits of the eponymous procuress Celestina by renowned painters like Murillo, Goya, and Picasso, and more recent screen and stage adaptations. Celestina has served as the prototype for subsequent representations of procuresses and bawds.

The Image of Celestina delves into the visual culture that emerged alongside La Celestina, encompassing paintings, illustrations, and advertisements. Enrique Fernández approaches La Celestina as a mixed-media text, drawing from disciplines such as art history, womens studies, and cinema studies. He analyzes a diverse range of images, including promotional posters, lobby pictures, and playbills of theatrical and cinematic adaptations of the book. By employing a visual studies approach, The Image of Celestina ultimately sheds light on the culture surrounding Celestina, a mythical figure who transcends the literary text in which she originated.

Weight: 630g
Dimension: 160 x 237 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781487549787