Abstract
Disability scholarship in seventeenth-century Spain reads bodily perfection as equal to spiritual perfection. Early modern writers such as Ruiz de Alarcón, who himself was disabled, offer imperfection instead as a prism through which to better see moral lessons. One of the moral lessons he includes in his comedies is the act of giving charity to those that embody imperfection. Alarcón challenges the concept of lo ideal warning that the ideal is often times a lie and that truth is instead revealed by the non-ideal, the imperfect, and the disabled. The imperfect body of the beggar boy in Jusepe Ribera’s Clubfoot Boy (1642), is akin to the broken body of the Supine Christ (c. 1615) by Gregorio Fernández. The boy’s imperfection places him and the viewer closer to God. These broken bodies serve as devotional mediators in Counter-Reformation Spain and offer new insights into the multifaceted constructions of dis/ability.
Presenters
Ilenia Colon MendozaAssociate Professor of Art History, School of Visual Art and Design, University of Central Florida, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Disability, Spain, Devotion, God, Art, Literature
