An Interest In:
Web News this Week
- April 18, 2024
- April 17, 2024
- April 16, 2024
- April 15, 2024
- April 14, 2024
- April 13, 2024
- April 12, 2024
The sex weasels of classical portraiture
No acchiappaclick here: you're getting exactly what the headline promises. Weasels are a symbol of sexuality in portraiture and there are so very many to choose from. Dr Chelsea Nichols:
Read the restWeasels sometimes also appear in Renaissance paintings where the woman is already successfully pregnant. In these cases, the weasel can better be understood to represent the hope for safe childbirth.
Some believed that wearing weasel fur directly on the skin could also help ease childbirth. Letters between Christina de Medici, the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, and her daughter Catherine, for instance, show that the Dowager sent her daughter an ermine or marten belt when Catherine was believed to be pregnant, claiming that it had helped her during the birth of her children.
Original Link: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/jQe4oWMBsiY/the-sex-weasels-of-classical-p.html