Author: Sheidegger Lämmle, Cédric
Title: Discussing Female Statuary. An Archaeology of the Statue of Libertas in Cicero’s De domo sua
Review/Collection: in H. Harich-Schwarzbauer, C. Scheidegger Laemmle (eds.), Women and Objects in Antiquity
Place edition: Trier
Year edition: 2022
Pages: 265-292
Keywords: Éloquence - Eloquenza - Eloquence, Rhétorique - Retorica - Rhetorics
Description: This article aims to shed light on some of these questions by offering a case study. Its focus is on works of art that represent female figures, both human and divine, or, to be more precise, on literary texts that discuss and depict such works of art. Such a focus throws the problems of definition into relief: art works are objects which are themselves defined by, and reflect on, their relation to the surrounding world and their own ‘objecthood’ or ‘objectivity’; accordingly, the discussion of art works in literature – as is well known – offers second-degree reflections on the ideological stakes implied in such notions. At the same time, the literary discourse on artistic representations of ‘women’ allows us to glean some of the assumptions and negotiations that underpin the idea of ‘woman’ in these texts. This article is interested in the tropes that underpin ‘womanufacture’, especially the shifting boundaries between the objectification of persons and the personification of objects. In what follows, I shall focus on the specific inflection of these tropes in a number of Ciceronian speeches which discuss artistic representations of women, especially in statuary. These often foreground ideas of ‘female sexuality’ and reflect on societally accepted norms and protocols of gender relations and on the transgressions of such normative behaviour. This discourse on gender and sexuality in turn informs reflections not only on power and possession but also on ideas of taste and discernment as well as of critical authority. [Author]
Works:
Link: https://www.academia.edu/86285346/_Discussing_Female_Statuary_An_Archaeology_of_the_Statue_of_Libertas_in_Cicero_s_De_domo_sua_in_H_Harich_Schwarzbauer_C_Scheidegger_Laemmle_eds_Women_and_Objects_in_Antiquity_Trier_wvt_2022_265_292
Author initials: Sheidegger Lämmle 2022
Title: Discussing Female Statuary. An Archaeology of the Statue of Libertas in Cicero’s De domo sua
Review/Collection: in H. Harich-Schwarzbauer, C. Scheidegger Laemmle (eds.), Women and Objects in Antiquity
Place edition: Trier
Year edition: 2022
Pages: 265-292
Keywords: Éloquence - Eloquenza - Eloquence, Rhétorique - Retorica - Rhetorics
Description: This article aims to shed light on some of these questions by offering a case study. Its focus is on works of art that represent female figures, both human and divine, or, to be more precise, on literary texts that discuss and depict such works of art. Such a focus throws the problems of definition into relief: art works are objects which are themselves defined by, and reflect on, their relation to the surrounding world and their own ‘objecthood’ or ‘objectivity’; accordingly, the discussion of art works in literature – as is well known – offers second-degree reflections on the ideological stakes implied in such notions. At the same time, the literary discourse on artistic representations of ‘women’ allows us to glean some of the assumptions and negotiations that underpin the idea of ‘woman’ in these texts. This article is interested in the tropes that underpin ‘womanufacture’, especially the shifting boundaries between the objectification of persons and the personification of objects. In what follows, I shall focus on the specific inflection of these tropes in a number of Ciceronian speeches which discuss artistic representations of women, especially in statuary. These often foreground ideas of ‘female sexuality’ and reflect on societally accepted norms and protocols of gender relations and on the transgressions of such normative behaviour. This discourse on gender and sexuality in turn informs reflections not only on power and possession but also on ideas of taste and discernment as well as of critical authority. [Author]
Works:
Link: https://www.academia.edu/86285346/_Discussing_Female_Statuary_An_Archaeology_of_the_Statue_of_Libertas_in_Cicero_s_De_domo_sua_in_H_Harich_Schwarzbauer_C_Scheidegger_Laemmle_eds_Women_and_Objects_in_Antiquity_Trier_wvt_2022_265_292
Author initials: Sheidegger Lämmle 2022
