Wolfthal, Diane

English

ScholarWorks at WMU

Smith, Susan L., The Power ofWomen: A Tapas in Medieval Art andLiterature.Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995.Pp. xv, 294. 48 figs.Susan Smith's doctoral dissertation of 1978,"To Women's Wiles I Fell:' ThePower of Women Topos and the Development of Medieval Secular Art,"! hashad an enormous impact on the field of art history." Smith was the first toexplore in depth a major theme of medieval and early modern culture, andnumerous scholars have eagerly anticipated the revision of her dissertation,which was recently published under the title The Power ofWomen: A Tapas inMedieval Art and Literature. This book explores the Power of Women topos, whichSmith defines as "the representational practice of bringing at least two, butusually more, well known figures from the Bible, ancient history or romance toexemplify a cluster of interrelated themes that include the wiles of women, thePClwer of love, and the trials of marriage" (2). The purpose of this theme, whichwas extremely popular in both art and literature, was to demonstrate that eventhe strongest and wisest of men, such as Samson and Aristotle, were powerlessto resist women. As Smith observes, this topos expressed a vision of the worldupside down and was "in violation of every officially sanctioned norm of femalebehavior that demanded the submission of the female to the male" (2). In thefirst half of the book, Smith examines the theme in literature from its rise in thepatristic period to its demise in the early modern; in the second half sheinvestigates its treatment in the visual arts from its first appearance in the twelfthcentury through its denouement in the sixteenth. Her focus is on the period of itsgreatest popularity, from the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries, and herprimary goal is to demonstrate that the topos was a site for contestedinterpretations, depending on whether its context was secular or ecclesiastic,private or public, and whether it was created or used by a man or a woman.The book's introduction outlines Smith's aims and theoretical approach. The firstchapter discusses the multivocal expression of the topos in literature andexplores its underpinnings, the rhetorical device of argumentation based onexample. Indeed, as Smith demonstrates, the belief that an argument is morepersuasive if it is buttressed by a series of examples from history was acommonly held conception in both ancient and medieval times. Smith notes thatthe Power of Women topos was invented by the patristic fathers to advocatecelibacy, but with the rise of a lay society in the twelfth century, it wasreinterpreted by court poets who held dear the ideals of chivalry and courtlylove. Just as preachers adopted the vernacular in part to co-opt the "new andpotentially transgressive pluralism of thought and expression," so did churchartists use the Power of Women theme (15).The topos appears largely in theliDmarginal areas of Gothic cathedrals and manuscripts, where, Smith argues, theywere intended, much like contemporary sermons, as "act[s] of appropriation andinterpretation intended to represent those images and the discourses to whichthey are related as marginal, secondary, and contingent in relation to the worksat its center and subject to interpretation in accordance with it" (18).Smith's second chapter examines the topos as a site for contested interpretations inthe later middle ages and the third focuses on the most popular example of thetopos, the story of the philosopher Aristotle, who submitted to Phyllis' desire toride him like a horse. Whereas the church interpreted this theme as showing thatwomen are evil and manipulative, others saw it as "championing the cause of truelove" (67). Dissenting from the church's viewpoint, some recognized that womenas well as men were touched by the power of love and female characters such asLeece, in Jehan Ie Fevre's Livre deLeece of c. 1370, were able to argue that not allwomen were malicious, that it is better to marry than to have adulterousrelationships, and that men who fell under the domination of women have onlythemselves to blame (50). Although most texts were written by men for men, afemale author, Christine de Pizan, contested the Power of Women theme, insistingthat women are hurt by deceitful lovers, and that male writers perpetuate falsenotions about women. Christine argues that if women wrote the books, theirinterpretations would differ from those of men (64).One preacher, in fact,confirmed that gender affected one's reaction to the Power of Women topos. In thethirteenth century, Jacques de Vitry complained: "Video quod mulieres illeindignatur rnihi, eo quod loquor de mulierum malitiis" [1see that these women arecross with me because 1speak of the evil qualities of women] (81).The fourth chapter is the first devoted to art. It focuses on depictions of the story ofAristotle, which first appear in the mid-fourteenth century. Smith explores howvisual representations of the tale differ from written ones. Because the story wasgenerally not depicted visually as a series of narrative scenes, but was rathershown as a single motif of a mounted rider, Smith assumes that viewers wouldassociate it with the idea of riding as a metaphor for sexual intercourse and withthe figurative transformation of a sinful man into a beast. Since it was believed thatmen should dominate women, a depiction of a man who has lost his uprightposition, bends over so that a woman may mount him, and accepts the bridle thatcedes control to the woman forms a transgressive image, which might operate in asubversive manner, particularly for female viewers. Smith also demonstrated thatthe mounted Aristotle was associated with related iconographic themes, such asLuxuria and the amorous hunt, but was not generally dependent on a specific text.In the next chapter, Smith explores a series of fourteenth-century images thatdemonstrate not only their artists' inventiveness, but also the theme's ability toembody a range of interpretations. The final chapter investigates the depiction ofthe Power of Women topos in the fifteenth and sixteenth century.This book is well researched, clearly organized, and convincing in its complexinterpretation of the topos. It will be useful to scholars in a broad range ofdisciplines. I take issue with only a few minor points. First, Smith writes of the"translation ... from verbal to visual" (105)and argues that the theme appearedfirst in written texts and then in visual form. I remain unconvinced that weshould grant priority to the textual versions when so much of the visual evidenceis lost. Also, Smith places primary emphasis on the artist rather than the patron.For example, she concludes that "the image of the mounted Aristotle is turnedloose, as it were, in a form in which it could be appropriated by individual artistswho could propose their own interpretations of the tale" (110-11) and argues that"artists set their own agendas" (138). Such statements privilege the artist over thepatron, theological advisor, assistant craftsmen, and others who formed thecollaborative teams that produced cultural artifacts.Smith's study of the Power of Women topos is a shining example of the "NewArt History.'? It unmasks the images' ideological stance and focuses onnoncanonical works, the so-called "minor arts" of tapestry, embroidery andsecular boxes. In this way, Smith broadens the art historical discussion to includea wider range of artifacts. She also assumes that literature and art areinterrelated, since both participate in the same cultural milieu. Scholars in thefield of comparative literature will feel at home with this book, but art historiansmay regret that there are so few illustrations, only forty-eight, all half-tones.Smith's revised text is quite sophisticated theoretically. She adopts an intervisualanalysis, invoking the notion that artists refer to earlier works of the same theme.Smith's feminist analysis also takes into account reception theory; she postulatesa multiplicity of viewer responses. She views the Power of Women topos asparticipating in a debate within medieval society, as a contested site forexamining the role of women and the power of love. She is less interested inexploring their social or historical context than in viewing these works in theirrelation to other cultural products; at times I wished for a more passionatefeminist voice. But those of us who still possess the tattered remains of thephotocopy of Smith's dissertation will gladly purchase this volume, and thosewho were unaware of the dissertation will welcome this book as a necessaryaddition to their library.Diane WolfthaiSchool ofArtArizona State University'Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 1978.a Among those who cite it are Ellen S. Jacobowitz and Stephanie Loeb Stepanek, The Prints of Lucas van Leydenand His Contemporaries (Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1983); Elise Lawton Smith, The paintings of Lucas vanLeyden (Columbia: University at Missouri Press, 1992); H. Diane Russell and Bernadine Barnes, Eva/Ave: Woman inRenaissance and Baroque Prints (Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1990); Diane Wolfthal, "'A Hue and a Cry':Medieval Rape Imagery and Its Transformation," Art History March 1993, 62 n. 12.3 See Pamela Shelngorn, "Medieval Drama Studies and the New Art History," Medievaiia: A Journal of MedievalStudies 18, 143·162 for a recent analysis of the New Art History.Wiethaus, Ulrike, Ecstatic Transformation: Transpersonal Psychology in the Work ofMechthild ofMagdeburg. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1996.Ulrike Wiethaus' ambitious goal is to make medieval mysticism intellectuallyaccessible to a modem western audience (2).To do this, she draws analogiesbetween modem psychologies open to the existence and significance of "alteredstates of consciousness" and the accounts of ecstasies and visions withinMechthild of Magdeburg's The Flowing Light of the Godhead. The study is dividedinto two parts, the first focusing on ecstasy and the second on visions. After anintroduction in which Wiethaus outlines her method and makes somepreliminary claims about the context for Mechthild's book, Chapter 2 describesMechthild's understanding of ecstasy, particularly as found in Book 1 of TheFlowing Light. This is followed by two chapters describing contemporarypsychological accounts of ecstasy, in particular the work of humanisticpsychologists Abraham Maslow and Roberto Assagioli and thepsychotherapeutic approaches of Arthur Deikman and Claudio Naranjo.Wiethaus suggests both the explanatory power of these models forunderstanding and making accessible Mechthild's work and subjects thecontemporary psychologies to critique from the perspective of Mechthild's work.Chapter 5 again returns to Mechthild, describing the visions found in Book 2 ofThe Flowing Light. Wiethaus closes her book by arguing that contemporarypsychophysiological approaches to visionary phenomena offer fruitful-although crucially limited-modes of access to medieval experience.This brief synopsis merely suggests the wide array of topics on which Wiethaustouches in her brief book. She clearly knows The Flowing Light well, and offersinsightful readings of important aspects of the text. Any of a number of mysticaltexts would have served for Wiethaus' project, yet I find her most compellingwhen she focuses on the particularities of Mechthild's book. Although on firstreading I was troubled by Wiethaus' assertion that "self-actualization" and"altered states of consciousness" could be taken as "approximatetwentieth-century equivalents" for medieval conceptions of deificatio, visio,alienatio mentislfruitio/raptus, she is careful throughout her study to note bothpoints of analogy and disanalogy, reiterating the divide between Mechthild's textand twentieth-century assumptions. Most crucially, Wiethaus keeps firmly inm

Susan L. Smith, The Power of Women: A Topos in Medieval Art and Literature. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995

Diane Wolfthal

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Medieval Feminist Newsletter

Iowa Research Online

Smith, Susan L., The Power ofWomen: A Tapas in Medieval Art andLiterature.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995.Pp. xv, 294. 48 figs.
Susan Smith's doctoral dissertation of 1978,"To Women's Wiles I Fell:' The
Power of Women Topos and the Development of Medieval Secular Art,"! has
had an enormous impact on the field of art history." Smith was the first to
explore in depth a major theme of medieval and early modern culture, and
numerous scholars have eagerly anticipated the revision of her dissertation,
which was recently published under the title The Power ofWomen: A Tapas in
Medieval Art and Literature. This book explores the Power of Women topos, which
Smith defines as "the representational practice of bringing at least two, but
usually more, well known figures from the Bible, ancient history or romance to
exemplify a cluster of interrelated themes that include the wiles of women, the
PClwer of love, and the trials of marriage" (2). The purpose of this theme, which
was extremely popular in both art and literature, was to demonstrate that even
the strongest and wisest of men, such as Samson and Aristotle, were powerless
to resist women. As Smith observes, this topos expressed a vision of the world
upside down and was "in violation of every officially sanctioned norm of female
behavior that demanded the submission of the female to the male" (2). In the
first half of the book, Smith examines the theme in literature from its rise in the
patristic period to its demise in the early modern; in the second half she
investigates its treatment in the visual arts from its first appearance in the twelfth
century through its denouement in the sixteenth. Her focus is on the period of its
greatest popularity, from the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries, and her
primary goal is to demonstrate that the topos was a site for contested
interpretations, depending on whether its context was secular or ecclesiastic,
private or public, and whether it was created or used by a man or a woman.
The book's introduction outlines Smith's aims and theoretical approach. The first
chapter discusses the multivocal expression of the topos in literature and
explores its underpinnings, the rhetorical device of argumentation based on
example. Indeed, as Smith demonstrates, the belief that an argument is more
persuasive if it is buttressed by a series of examples from history was a
commonly held conception in both ancient and medieval times. Smith notes that
the Power of Women topos was invented by the patristic fathers to advocate
celibacy, but with the rise of a lay society in the twelfth century, it was
reinterpreted by court poets who held dear the ideals of chivalry and courtly
love. Just as preachers adopted the vernacular in part to co-opt the "new and
potentially transgressive pluralism of thought and expression," so did church
artists use the Power of Women theme (15).The topos appears largely in the
liD
marginal areas of Gothic cathedrals and manuscripts, where, Smith argues, they
were intended, much like contemporary sermons, as "act[s] of appropriation and
interpretation intended to represent those images and the discourses to which
they are related as marginal, secondary, and contingent in relation to the works
at its center and subject to interpretation in accordance with it" (18).
Smith's second chapter examines the topos as a site for contested interpretations in
the later middle ages and the third focuses on the most popular example of the
topos, the story of the philosopher Aristotle, who submitted to Phyllis' desire to
ride him like a horse. Whereas the church interpreted this theme as showing that
women are evil and manipulative, others saw it as "championing the cause of true
love" (67). Dissenting from the church's viewpoint, some recognized that women
as well as men were touched by the power of love and female characters such as
Leece, in Jehan Ie Fevre's Livre deLeece of c. 1370, were able to argue that not all
women were malicious, that it is better to marry than to have adulterous
relationships, and that men who fell under the domination of women have only
themselves to blame (50). Although most texts were written by men for men, a
female author, Christine de Pizan, contested the Power of Women theme, insisting
that women are hurt by deceitful lovers, and that male writers perpetuate false
notions about women. Christine argues that if women wrote the books, their
interpretations would differ from those of men (64).One preacher, in fact,
confirmed that gender affected one's reaction to the Power of Women topos. In the
thirteenth century, Jacques de Vitry complained: "Video quod mulieres ille
indignatur rnihi, eo quod loquor de mulierum malitiis" [1see that these women are
cross with me because 1speak of the evil qualities of women] (81).
The fourth chapter is the first devoted to art. It focuses on depictions of the story of
Aristotle, which first appear in the mid-fourteenth century. Smith explores how
visual representations of the tale differ from written ones. Because the story was
generally not depicted visually as a series of narrative scenes, but was rather
shown as a single motif of a mounted rider, Smith assumes that viewers would
associate it with the idea of riding as a metaphor for sexual intercourse and with
the figurative transformation of a sinful man into a beast. Since it was believed that
men should dominate women, a depiction of a man who has lost his upright
position, bends over so that a woman may mount him, and accepts the bridle that
cedes control to the woman forms a transgressive image, which might operate in a
subversive manner, particularly for female viewers. Smith also demonstrated that
the mounted Aristotle was associated with related iconographic themes, such as
Luxuria and the amorous hunt, but was not generally dependent on a specific text.
In the next chapter, Smith explores a series of fourteenth-century images that
demonstrate not only their artists' inventiveness, but also the theme's ability to
embody a range of interpretations. The final chapter investigates the depiction of
the Power of Women topos in the fifteenth and sixteenth century.
This book is well researched, clearly organized, and convincing in its complex
interpretation of the topos. It will be useful to scholars in a broad range of
disciplines. I take issue with only a few minor points. First, Smith writes of the
"translation ... from verbal to visual" (105)and argues that the theme appeared
first in written texts and then in visual form. I remain unconvinced that we
should grant priority to the textual versions when so much of the visual evidence
is lost. Also, Smith places primary emphasis on the artist rather than the patron.
For example, she concludes that "the image of the mounted Aristotle is turned
loose, as it were, in a form in which it could be appropriated by individual artists
who could propose their own interpretations of the tale" (110-11) and argues that
"artists set their own agendas" (138). Such statements privilege the artist over the
patron, theological advisor, assistant craftsmen, and others who formed the
collaborative teams that produced cultural artifacts.
Smith's study of the Power of Women topos is a shining example of the "New
Art History.'? It unmasks the images' ideological stance and focuses on
noncanonical works, the so-called "minor arts" of tapestry, embroidery and
secular boxes. In this way, Smith broadens the art historical discussion to include
a wider range of artifacts. She also assumes that literature and art are
interrelated, since both participate in the same cultural milieu. Scholars in the
field of comparative literature will feel at home with this book, but art historians
may regret that there are so few illustrations, only forty-eight, all half-tones.
Smith's revised text is quite sophisticated theoretically. She adopts an intervisual
analysis, invoking the notion that artists refer to earlier works of the same theme.
Smith's feminist analysis also takes into account reception theory; she postulates
a multiplicity of viewer responses. She views the Power of Women topos as
participating in a debate within medieval society, as a contested site for
examining the role of women and the power of love. She is less interested in
exploring their social or historical context than in viewing these works in their
relation to other cultural products; at times I wished for a more passionate
feminist voice. But those of us who still possess the tattered remains of the
photocopy of Smith's dissertation will gladly purchase this volume, and those
who were unaware of the dissertation will welcome this book as a necessary
addition to their library.
Diane Wolfthai
School ofArt
Arizona State University
'Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 1978.
a Among those who cite it are Ellen S. Jacobowitz and Stephanie Loeb Stepanek, The Prints of Lucas van Leyden
and His Contemporaries (Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1983); Elise Lawton Smith, The paintings of Lucas van
Leyden (Columbia: University at Missouri Press, 1992); H. Diane Russell and Bernadine Barnes, Eva/Ave: Woman in
Renaissance and Baroque Prints (Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1990); Diane Wolfthal, "'A Hue and a Cry':
Medieval Rape Imagery and Its Transformation," Art History March 1993, 62 n. 12.
3 See Pamela Shelngorn, "Medieval Drama Studies and the New Art History," Medievaiia: A Journal of Medieval
Studies 18, 143·162 for a recent analysis of the New Art History.
Wiethaus, Ulrike, Ecstatic Transformation: Transpersonal Psychology in the Work of
Mechthild ofMagdeburg. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1996.
Ulrike Wiethaus' ambitious goal is to make medieval mysticism intellectually
accessible to a modem western audience (2).To do this, she draws analogies
between modem psychologies open to the existence and significance of "altered
states of consciousness" and the accounts of ecstasies and visions within
Mechthild of Magdeburg's The Flowing Light of the Godhead. The study is divided
into two parts, the first focusing on ecstasy and the second on visions. After an
introduction in which Wiethaus outlines her method and makes some
preliminary claims about the context for Mechthild's book, Chapter 2 describes
Mechthild's understanding of ecstasy, particularly as found in Book 1 of The
Flowing Light. This is followed by two chapters describing contemporary
psychological accounts of ecstasy, in particular the work of humanistic
psychologists Abraham Maslow and Roberto Assagioli and the
psychotherapeutic approaches of Arthur Deikman and Claudio Naranjo.
Wiethaus suggests both the explanatory power of these models for
understanding and making accessible Mechthild's work and subjects the
contemporary psychologies to critique from the perspective of Mechthild's work.
Chapter 5 again returns to Mechthild, describing the visions found in Book 2 of
The Flowing Light. Wiethaus closes her book by arguing that contemporary
psychophysiological approaches to visionary phenomena offer fruitful-
although crucially limited-modes of access to medieval experience.
This brief synopsis merely suggests the wide array of topics on which Wiethaus
touches in her brief book. She clearly knows The Flowing Light well, and offers
insightful readings of important aspects of the text. Any of a number of mystical
texts would have served for Wiethaus' project, yet I find her most compelling
when she focuses on the particularities of Mechthild's book. Although on first
reading I was troubled by Wiethaus' assertion that "self-actualization" and
"altered states of consciousness" could be taken as "approximate
twentieth-century equivalents" for medieval conceptions of deificatio, visio,
alienatio mentislfruitio/raptus, she is careful throughout her study to note both
points of analogy and disanalogy, reiterating the divide between Mechthild's text
and twentieth-century assumptions. Most crucially, Wiethaus keeps firmly in
m


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Susan L. Smith, The Power of Women: A Topos in Medieval Art and Literature. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995

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