Jolly's Moseley Topic:
Maternity Clothing as Metaphor in 15th-Century Netherlandish Art

Kenan Professor Of Liberal Arts Penny Howell Jolly

"Pregnant Moments: Maternity Clothing as a Metaphor in 15th-Century Netherlandish Art" is the title of this year's Edwin M. Moseley Faculty Research Lecture, to be given at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12, by art historian Penny Howell Jolly, Kenan Professor of Liberal Arts and professor of art history at Skidmore.

Free and open to the public, the lecture will be in Gannett Auditorium of Palamountain Hall. A reception will follow. Each year the Skidmore faculty chooses one of its own to deliver the Edwin M. Moseley Faculty Research Lecture. Selection as the Moseley Lecturer is the highest honor the Skidmore faculty confers upon a colleague.

Jolly's talk will reflect her current research interest -- late Medieval and Renaissance images related to marriage and childbearing. She will focus on 15th-century paintings by Rogier van der Weyden of Mary Magdalene in clothing that could be construed as signifying pregnancy. Van der Weyden uses subtle details of dress -- in particular, a cote with spreading lacing (a cote was an underdress worn by women during this era that could be loosened during pregnancy) -- to demonstrate that Mary Magdalene is "spiritually pregnant."

Jolly explains, "Although there are no accounts of Mary Magdalene actually being pregnant, there are many analogies to pregnancy in her cult. Her conversion and penance are essential elements of her legend that result in her own rebirth and her symbolic bearing of Christ in her womb -- and her suffering is described as being like labor." Following her conversion, Mary Magdalene is described as being like the Virgin Mary: filled with Christ and full of grace. Based on these visual and textual clues, Jolly concludes that Mary Magdalene is "metaphorically pregnant."

Van der Weyden's depiction of Mary Magdalene was a calculated effort to connect with his audience, Jolly asserts. Painters during this period often incorporated numerous references in their works to appeal both to the learned members of the public, as well as those with little or no education. Several other artists during this era incorporated similar elements in their portrayals of Mary Magdalene, extending the motif for close to a century, until the start of the Reformation. Suddenly these images disappeared, a development that Jolly attributes to vastly different religious influences in that era.

Jolly's examination of Van der Weyden's portrayal of Mary Magdalene stems from what she calls her "family values" study of pregnancy, birthing, and breast feeding. She was intrigued by how these typical aspects of many women's lives were reflected in the artworks of the period. "Such events are usually shown in terms of what happened to the Virgin Mary or the saints, not 'typical' women," she explained. Jolly wanted to know what would indicate pregnancy during this era -- when the "ideal" female form was of a woman with a big belly. Given this ideal, what would be a clue to reality? Jolly reports that there are a number of hints, not all subtle. "Some artists would paint Mary with a rounded belly, and a tiny baby painted right over the womb." Other artists used sewing metaphors, showing women engaged in thread-making or weaving.

Jolly began earnestly researching this topic during her 1997-98 sabbatical, when she spent two months in Europe. "It was absolute heaven" to have the time and access to churches and museums to see the paintings in person, she recalled. To take maximum advantage, she packed a number of tools for viewing details, such as magnifying glasses and scopes. "This is why I go blind," Jolly said ruefully. Only by poring over the paintings, studying tiny details, can she begin to discern the artist's bigger message. "I like to see everything" Jolly enthusiastically reported. "And you see things differently in person than you do in a reproduction," she added.

Jolly combined her examination of the artworks with additional research, such as a review of late-Medieval medical texts, to develop a context of birthing during this time frame.

Since her sabbatical, Jolly has presented her scholarship to students in her classes and to colleagues in the field of art history. Two articles have been completed. One, "Learned Reading, Vernacular Seeing: Jacques Daret's Presentation in the Temple," published in the September 2000 edition of in The Art Bulletin, is a meticulous examination of altarpiece panels from the Benedictine abbey of St. Vaast in Arras, France, created in the 1430s by painter Jacques Daret. A second article, "Marked Difference: Earrings and 'the Other' in 15th-Century Flemish Art," will be included in Encountering Medieval Dress and Textiles: Object, Text, and Image, edited by D. Koslin and J. Snyder and scheduled to be published this spring by Palgrave.

A cum laude graduate of Oberlin College, where she earned a B.A. degree in art history and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Jolly received master's and doctoral degrees in art history at the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the Skidmore College faculty in 1976 and was named Kenan Professor of Liberal Arts in fall 2001.

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