Body–Worlds
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Te xT • I mage • ConTe xT
Studies in Medieval Manuscript Illumination
Edited by
1
Jeffrey F. Hamburger
Kuno Francke Professor of German Art & Culture
Harvard University
Body–W
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–Worlds
Opicinus de Canistris and the
Medieval Cartographic Imagination
Karl Whittington
PIMS
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Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies
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Acknowledgements
Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the Millard Meiss Publication Fund of the
College Art Association.
Illustrations in this book were funded in part or in whole by a grant from the Meiss/Mellon
Author’s Book Award of the College Art Association.
Publication of this volume was facilitated by an award from the International Center of Medieval Art, made possible
through the generosity of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies also gratefully acknowledges funds received in memory of the late Janet
Backhouse, curator of illuminated manuscripts in The British Library, from Ann M. Hutchison, James P. Carley, and
the Janet E. Hutchison Foundation.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Whittington, Karl, 1982–, author
Body-worlds : Opicinus de Canistris and the medieval cartographic imagination / Karl Whittington.
(Studies and texts ; 186)
(Text image context: studies in medieval manuscript illumination ; 1)
This volume includes a study of drawings found in Opicinus’s journal, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana MS Vat. lat.
6435 and others in Biblioteca apostolica vaticana MS Pal. lat. 1993.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-88844-186-7 (bound). — ISBN 978-1-77110-347-3 (pdf)
1. Opicino, de Canistris, 1296–approximately 1354 – Criticism and interpretation. 2. Drawing, Medieval – Italy.
3. Art, Medieval – Italy. 4. Maps in art. 5. Geography, Medieval – Maps. 6. Nautical charts – Europe – History –
To 1500. 7. Human body – Symbolic aspects – Italy – History – To 1500. 8. Human figure in art. 9. Visual communication – Italy – History – To 1500. 10. Visions in art. 11. Art and mental illness – Case studies. 12. Biblioteca apostolica vaticana. Manuscript. Vat. Lat. 6435. 13. Biblioteca apostolica vaticana. Manuscript. Pal. lat. 1993.
I. Opicino, de Canistris, 1296–approximately 1354. Drawings. Selections. II. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies, issuing body III. Biblioteca apostolica vaticana. Manuscript. Vat. Lat. 6435 IV. Biblioteca apostolica vaticana. Manuscript. Pal. lat. 1993 V. Title. VI. Title: Opicinus de Canistris and the medieval cartographic imagination.
VII. Series: Studies and texts (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies) ; 186 VIII. Series: Text, image, context ; 1
NC257.O65W45 2014
741.092
C2013-906793-0
C2013-906794-9
© 2014
Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies
59 Queen’s Park Crescent East
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C4
www.pims.ca
MANUFACTURED IN CANADA
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For Opicinus de Canistris
and Michael Camille –
two extraordinary minds
whose creativity inspired
this book.
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Contents
List of Figures viii
Acknowledgements
xi
Introduction: The Body-Worlds of Opicinus de Canistris
1 Opicinus’s Cartography
Rethinking Early Portolan Charts
3
25
2 Empirical Allegory
Structure, Vision, and Experimentation in Four Drawings
61
3 Diagramming Everything
Opicinus’s Cosmologies
103
4 Graphic Art
Gender, Sex, and Queer Bodies in Form and Metaphor
Conclusion: Art, Science, Analogy
Notes
180
Bibliography 201
Illustration Credits
Index 210
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141
175
209
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List of Figures
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat.
lat. 6435, fol. 79v (detail); © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
4
Europa Regina: from Sebastian Munster’s Cosmographia
(Basel, 1570), p. 55
6
Angelino Dulcert, Dulcert Chart, Majorca, 1339: Paris,
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Cartes et Plans, Rés. Ge. B 696
28
Carte Pisane, ca. 1275: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France,
Cartes et Plans, Rés. Ge. B 1118
31
Modern diagram of mapped coordinates from the Compasso da
Navigare (thirteenth century): from Jonathan T. Lanman, On
the Origin of Portolan Charts (Chicago, 1987), plate 2
34
Diagram demonstrating the skewing of the portolan charts:
from Lanman, On the Origin of Portolan Charts (1987), plate 6
35
Fig. 7
Diagram of the layers of gridded structures on the Dulcert Chart
39
Fig. 8
Angelino Dulcert, Dulcert Chart, Majorca, 1339, showing detail
of distance scales: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France,
Cartes et Plans, Rés. Ge. B 696
40
Angelino Dulcert, Portolan Chart, Majorca, ca. 1339–50:
London, British Library, Add. MS 25691 (detail)
46
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 9
Fig. 10 Pietro Lorenzetti, Birth of the Virgin, Museo dell’Opera del
Duomo, Siena, 1342
Fig. 11
Psalter Map, England, ca. 1260: London, British Library,
Add. MS 28681
Fig. 12 Pietro Vesconte, Mappamundi, ca. 1320–25: London,
British Library, Add. MS 27376, ff. 187v–88r
48
55
56
viii
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Fig. 13
Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 74v; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
63
Fig. 14 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 73v; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
66
Giotto di Bondone, Justice, Arena Chapel, Padua, ca. 1305–10
72
Fig. 16 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 84v; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
74
Fig. 17 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 61r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
79
Fig. 18 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 58r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
83
Fig. 19 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Pal. lat. 1993, fol. 13v; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
84
Fig. 20 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 82r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
88
Fig. 21 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 71r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
95
Fig. 22 Giotto di Bondone, Stigmatization of St Francis, Louvre, Paris,
ca. 1295–1300
98
Fig. 23 Giotto di Bondone, Stigmatization of St Francis, Santa Croce,
Florence, ca. 1325
99
Fig. 24 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Pal. lat. 1993, fol. 5r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
105
Fig. 25 Body and zodiac: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France,
MS lat. 11229, fol. 45r
110
Fig. 26 Diagram of the Fours, ca. 1110: Oxford, St John’s College
MS 17, fol. 7v
114
Fig. 27 Macrocosm/microcosm, twelfth century: Munich,
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm. 13002, fol. 7v
115
Fig. 15
Fig. 28 Man and the Cosmos: illustration from Liber divinorum operum of
Hildegard of Bingen: Lucca, Biblioteca Statale, MS 1942, fol. 9r
117
List of Figures
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ix
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Fig. 29 Zodiac Man, 1399: London, British Library, Sloane MS 2250,
section 12
120
Fig. 30 Giusto de’ Menabuoi, Creation, Duomo Baptistery, Padua, 1376–78
122
Fig. 31
Fig. 32 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Pal. lat. 1993, fol. 10r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
126
Fig. 33 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Pal. lat. 1993, fol. 20r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
130
Fig. 34 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Pal. lat. 1993, fol. 24r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
133
Fig. 35 Fertility tree, Massa Marittima, ca. 1275
149
Fig. 36 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 77r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
152
Fig. 37 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 61v; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
154
Fig. 38 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 53v; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
156
Fig. 39 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 78r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
158
Fig. 40 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 87r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
160
Fig. 41 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 48v; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
162
Fig. 42 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 49r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
164
Fig. 43 Opicinus de Canistris, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Vat. lat. 6435, fol. 83r; © 2014 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
166
Fig. 44 Pietro di Pucci da Orvieto, Creation, Camposanto, Pisa, 1389–90
176
Fig. 45 Taddeo Gaddi, Tree of Life, Santa Croce, Florence, ca. 1360
177
x
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Theological diagram, mid-thirteenth century, Archivio Capitolare,
Vercelli, caveau codici, rotolo 2
125
List of Figures
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Acknowledgements
It is a great pleasure to acknowledge and thank the many colleagues, advisors, friends,
and institutions who have helped make this book possible. My first thanks must go to
the many advisors who helped me conceive and shape my dissertation at the University
of California at Berkeley, which formed the basis of this book. Jacqueline Jung sparked
my interest in the medieval body in several seminars, and encouraged me to pursue
this unusual topic. She was also a critical voice in shaping the project’s scope and ideas.
Whitney Davis introduced me to a number of new frameworks for investigating my material, and provided insightful and constructive feedback at every turn. Beate Fricke helped
me revise the study, and was exceptionally generous in sharing her vast knowledge of
medieval primary sources and contemporary methodologies. My two other committee
members, Elizabeth Honig and Thomas Laqueur, each inspired my thinking with the
creativity of their scholarship and teaching, and I am grateful for their support of the
project. I also want to make a special acknowledgement of Nina Rowe, my first advisor in
medieval art as an undergraduate at Middlebury College. Nina’s passion for her subject
and exacting standards are what set me on the path to this book, and her continued friendship and advice are always a great source of motivation.
I am grateful to Jeffrey Hamburger, series editor for Text Image Context, for his
support of the project as it made its way from dissertation to book. His comments greatly
shaped the direction the study took, and his generous feedback was much appreciated.
I am also indebted to the three anonymous readers chosen by the press, whose valuable
and constructive suggestions changed the project on every level. The editorial staff of
the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, led by Fred Unwalla, was supportive of the
project from the beginning, and I owe them a great debt for their expertise. They have
offered helpful suggestions, worked tirelessly to edit the text and notes, and remained
patient with my inexperience in this complicated process. Many thanks also to Nate
Dorward, for his imaginative book design and also for the hard work necessary in creating
such a beautiful volume.
Many institutions have supported my research financially. Many thanks to the
Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the History of Art Departments at the University of California at Berkeley and Ohio State University, the Townsend Center for the Humanities
xi
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at Berkeley, the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence, and the International Center of
Medieval Art. Two grants from the College Art Association provided assistance for the
purchasing of images and subsidized the cost of production. Thanks also to the many
libraries that provided access and images, particularly the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
the British Library, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Most of all, this research has been shaped and supported by the voices of my
friends and colleages. I would like to especially thank three friends who helped me grapple
with Opicinus (and art history) over countless conversations: Elizabeth Ferrell, Aaron
Hyman, and Jenny Sakai. Other friends and colleagues who have generously listened to
and shared ideas include Christopher Atwood, Meryl Bailey, Elizabeth Bennett, Jennifer
Borland, Chad Corbley, Paul Doyle, Martha Easton, Molly Farrell, Lisa Florman, Robert
Flynt, Elizabeth Gand, Eliza Garrison, Aglaya Glebova, Amanda Gluibizzi, Barbara
Haeger, Luke Habberstad, Jacob Haubenreich, Christian Kleinbub, Christopher Lakey,
Sherry Lindquist, Vanessa Lyon, Victoria Morse, Kris Paulsen, Mike Potoczniak, Elizabeth Quarles, George Rush, Andrew Shelton, Jennifer Shurville, and Christine Trychin.
Many thanks also to my family for their love and encouragement: Nancy, Dale and Leah,
and also Sallie, Charlie, Nate, Hannah, and especially my partner Adam have helped me
in innumerable ways, both personal and professional, for many years.
Finally, I want to briefly acknowledge the two people to whom this book is dedicated. I never met Michael Camille, but his writings have always been, and continue to be,
my greatest source of inspiration as a scholar. It was in his short essay “The Image and the
Self ” that I first encountered the strange drawings explored in this book. His appreciation
of the marvellous and strange, but also his insistence that such objects lie at the centre
of our understandings of medieval culture and representation, have guided nearly every
project I have worked on. I hope that he would have liked this book. Opicinus de Canistris inspired me in different ways, in turn confusing me, offending me, and delighting me,
but always making my mind race with his daring creativity. His work typifies everything
that I love about medieval art – most particularly, the sense that I will never fully understand it. To work on an artist for so many years and remain surprised and engaged by him
at every turn has been a true pleasure. If Opicinus was crazy, I don’t want to be sane.
xii
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Acknowledgements
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