The Mirror in Medieval and Early Modern Culture: Specular Reflections

310 Pages·2016·2.14 MB·English

by  Nancy M. Frelick

The Mirror in Medieval
and Early Modern Culture
CURSOR MUNDI
Cursor Mundi is produced under the auspices of the Center for
Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University of California, Los Angeles.
Executive Editor
Blair Sullivan, University of California, Los Angeles
Editorial Board
Michael D. Bailey, Iowa State University
Christopher Baswell, Columbia University and Barnard College
Florin Curta, University of Florida
Elizabeth Freeman, University of Tasmania
Yitzhak Hen, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Lauren Kassell, Pembroke College, Cambridge
David Lines, University of Warwick
Cary Nederman, Texas A&M University
Teofilo Ruiz, University of California, Los Angeles
Previously published volumes in this series are listed at the back of the book.
Volume 25
The Mirror in Medieval
and Early Modern Culture
Specular Reflections
Edited by
Nancy M. Frelick
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
© 2016, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
D/2016/0095/2
ISBN: 978-2-503-56454-8
e-ISBN: 978-2-503-56564-4
DOI: 10.1484/M.CURSOR-EB.5.108028
Printed on acid-free paper
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Introduction
NANCY M. FRELICK 1
Aristotle’s ‘Bloody Mirror’ and Natural Science
in Medi eval and Early Modern Europe
BERTHOLD HUB 31
Specular Art and Science: Mirror Metaphor
in Medi eval Alchemical Texts
ANNA DYSERT 73
Adjusting the Mirror: A Political Remake
of Brunetto Latini’s Li Livres dou Tresor
DAVID NAPOLITANO 89
Mirror Metaphors in Persian Sufi Literature
LEILA RAHIMI BAHMANY 113
Language as Mirror: Semiramis and Alexander
in a Late Byzantine Romance
ALISON BERINgER 131
vi Contents
Sight Lines: The Mirror of the Mind in Medi eval Poetics
Suzanne ConkLin akbari 149
Comme dans un miroir, comme dans un adage:
chatoiements et reflets de la reprise et de l’amitié
HéLène CazeS 171
Mirror/Window, reflection/Deflection:
regulating the Gaze inside and outside the House
in Gilles Corrozet’s Blasons domestiques (1539)
eLizabetH bLaCk 190
a Mosaic Mirror: Fracture and Fault Line
of ronsard’s Amours of 1552
toM ConLey 211
between Stage-Prop and Metaphor: Mirrors in
Giovan battista Della Porta and Giordano bruno
SerGiuS koDera 235
Portraits et miroirs dans les éloges collectifs
de femmes au xviie siècle
Jean-PHiLiPPe beauLieu 257
The reflection Sundial at Palazzo Spada in rome:
The Mirror as instrument, Symbol, and Metaphor
uLrike FeiSt 271
index 287
List of Illustrations
Elizabeth Black
Figure 8.1. ‘Contre les blasonneurs des membres’, from gilles Corrozet,
Les Blasons domestiques contenantz la decoration d’une maison honneste
(Paris, 1539) ....................................................190
Figure 8.2. ‘Le Blason de la sasle et chambre’, from gilles Corrozet,
Les Blasons domestiques contenantz la decoration d’une maison honneste
(Paris, 1539) ....................................................193
Figure 8.3. ‘Le Blason de l’estuy de chambre’, from gilles Corrozet,
Les Blasons domestiques contenantz la decoration d’une maison honneste
(Paris, 1539) ....................................................197
Figure 8.4. ‘Le Blason du miroir’, from gilles Corrozet, Les Blasons
domestiques contenantz la decoration d’une maison honneste
(Paris, 1539) ....................................................199
Tom Conley
Figure 9.1. Frontispiece, Les Amours de P. de Ronsard Vandomoys:
Ensemble le cinquiesme de ses odes (Paris: Chez la Veufve de Maurice
de la Porte, au clos Bruneau, à l’enseigne S. Claude, 1552)......... 212–13
Figure 9.2. Les Amours de P. de Ronsard (1552), pp. 32–33...............220
viii list of iLLUSTRATIONS
Figure 9.3. Abel Foullon, Vsaige et description de l’holometre.
Pour scavoir mesvrer toutes choses qui sont soubs l’estenduë de l’œil:
Tant en longueur & largeur, qu’en hauteur & profondité.
Inuenté par Abel Foullon Vallet de chambre du Roy 
(Paris: Pierre Beguin 1561)........................................221
Figure 9.4. Pieter Apian, Cosmographia 
(Paris: Vivant gaultherot, 1551) ..................................226
Sergius Kodera
Figure 10.1. Della Porta, Magia, p. 553. ...............................248
Ulrike Feist
Figure 12.1. galleria della Meridiana, Palazzo Spada, Rome. ............273
Figure 12.2. Mezzanine window and reflected point of light,
galleria della Meridiana, Palazzo Spada, Rome. .....................274
Figure 12.3. galleria della Meridiana, engraving from Emmanuel
Maignan, Perspectiva horaria (Rome: Philippi Rubei, 1648)...........276
Figure 12.4. Angelo Michele Colonna and Agostino Mitelli,
Putto with bee. Fresco, 1635, Sala di Pompeo (Sala grande),
Palazzo Spada, Rome. ............................................278
Figure 12.5. Angelo Michele Colonna and Agostino Mitelli,
Allegory of Virtue. Fresco, 1635, Sala di Pompeo (Sala grande),
Palazzo Spada, Rome. ............................................279
Figure 12.6. giovanni Battista Magni, Allegories of Astronomy,
Cosmography, geometry and Optics. Fresco, 1644,
galleria della Meridiana, Palazzo Spada, Rome. .....................283
Preface
The essays in this collection are revised versions of selected papers from
an international conference entitled Specular Reflections: The Mirror in
Medi eval and Early Modern Culture, held at green College on the cam-
pus of the Uni ver sity of British Columbia, on 16–18 March 2012. This confer-
ence — the 40th UBC Medi eval Workshop, organized by Nancy M. Frelick,
Juliet O’Brien, and Chantal Phan — contributed to a long-standing tradition of
interdisciplinary colloquia exploring various aspects of the premodern period,
several of which have produced edited volumes.1 We also followed in the foot-
steps of some predecessors in expanding the geographical and chronological
confines of the Medi eval Workshop.
The theme was selected by the Medi eval Studies Committee (Chair:
Courtney Booker) because of its rich interdisciplinary potential and because
of the importance and polyvalence of mirrors as objects or instruments, as
well as signs, in the periods in question. Later on, in the modern period, mir-
rors became more ubiquitous and therefore lost some of the symbolic charge
obtained when they were rare, precious commodities — the implications of
some of these changes are considered in the introduction.
This multidisciplinary collection was not designed to resemble ordinary
conference proceedings; instead, it presents the very best from among submis-
sions written specifically with this thematic volume in mind. It features chap-
ters dealing with ‘specularity’ through text, image, and various branches of
1 Recent titles include: Stephen Partridge and Erik Kwakkel, eds, Author, Reader, Book:
Medi eval Authorship in Theory and Practice (Toronto: Uni ver sity of Toronto Press, 2012); Niall
Christie and Maya Yazigi, eds, Noble Ideals and Bloody Realities: Warfare in the Middle Ages
(Leiden: Brill, 2006); and Siân Echard and Stephen Partridge, eds, The Book Unbound: Editing
and Reading Medi eval Manuscripts and Texts (Toronto: Uni ver sity of Toronto Press, 2004).
x Preface
learning, especially those that engage with the paradoxical ways mirror images
are used in the Middle Ages and early modern period. As such, it represents
an original contribution on mostly secular (rather than sacred) mirrors in pre-
modern times.
The volume contains articles based on approximately half of the original
conference papers, so it does not reflect every nuance of the lively conversations
that took place during the colloquium. We hope, however, that this collection
offers a valuable cross-section of the wide range of issues that were addressed
during the sessions and ensuing discussion periods, thanks to the diversity of
participants and disciplinary approaches.
We were fortunate to receive several grants and financial contributions that
enabled us, among other things, to secure travel funding for many esteemed col-
leagues and graduate students from Europe and from all over North America.
For this financial assistance, we thank: the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada’s Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences;
the UBC Humanities and Social Sciences Symposium grant program (Faculty
of Arts); the Office of the Provost and Vice President Academic; along with
several Departments at the Uni ver sity of British Columbia: History; French,
Hispanic, and Italian Studies; Central, Eastern, and Northern European
Studies; Art History, Visual Arts, and Theory; English; and Classical, Near
Eastern, and Religious Studies.
Most sessions were held at green College, a beautifully situated, multidis-
ciplinary graduate college at the Uni ver sity of British Columbia. We are grate-
ful to Mark Vessey, Principal of green College, for his gracious and generous
support, and for continuing the annual tradition of welcoming the Medi eval
Workshop. We also wish to acknowledge the Faculty of Arts for providing
large auditoriums for the two plenary lectures, which were open to the general
public. The Head of French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies at the time, André
Lamontagne, supported this project from the start and we are grateful for
his generosity. We also wish to thank Courtney Booker, then Chair of Medi-
eval Studies, for his support and for suggesting we approach Blair Sullivan,
Publications Director at the UCLA Center for Medi eval and Renaissance
Studies, to see whether there might be interest in including this volume in
the Cursor Mundi series. Thanks also go to Claire Carlin at the Uni ver sity of
Victoria, who shared her experience and expertise and provided invaluable
advice at crucial stages of the project.
It is a special privilege to underscore the contributions of our two distin-
guished plenary speakers, Suzanne Conklin Akbari (Uni ver sity of Toronto)
and Tom Conley (Harvard Uni ver sity), who offered very different angles on