Abstracts
Abstract
Court artist Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen produced a set of cartoons for the Tunis tapestries commissioned by Mary of Hungary and woven in Brussels in c. 1546–54. Throughout the ten extant cartoons, women are subjected to violence, but they are also presented as economically valuable captives and slaves. In the sole surviving preparatory drawing, Vermeyen recorded more extreme physical depredation, with the corpse of a young, obese woman lying on her side with her garments pulled up to expose her pubic mound and her upper left arm sliced open in two places. The violated woman rendered the rapaciousness of soldiers an inescapable fact. In addition, viewers may have associated the victim with the North African practice of bride fattening. However, this disturbing figure was eliminated from the final tapestries. While we lack direct testimony about that decision, it may have been informed by a combination of sexual, ethnographic, and medical discourses.
Keywords:
- Charles V,
- Muley al-Hassan,
- Mary of Hungary,
- Tunis,
- Cartoon,
- Tapestry,
- Rape,
- Bride Fattening
Résumé
L’artiste de cour Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen réalisa une série de cartons pour les tapisseries de la bataille de Tunis commandées par Marie de Hongrie et tissées à Bruxelles vers 1546–54. Dans les dix cartons conservés, les femmes sont victimes de violences, mais aussi présentées comme des captives et des esclaves possédant une valeur marchande. Dans le seul dessin préparatoire qui nous soit parvenu, Vermeyen fait état de sévices physiques plus extrêmes avec le cadavre d’une jeune femme obèse couchée sur le côté, ses vêtements relevés pour exposer son pubis, et le haut de son bras gauche tranché en deux endroits. Cette femme violée rendait flagrante la brutalité des soldats. En outre, les spectateurs pouvaient associer la victime à la pratique nord-africaine du gavage des filles. Cette figure troublante a toutefois été éliminée dans les tapisseries finales. Bien qu’il n’y ait pas de témoignage direct à son sujet, cette décision pourrait avoir été guidée par une combinaison de discours sexuels, ethnographiques et médicaux.
Mots-clés :
- Charles Quint,
- Muley al-Hassan,
- Marie de Hongrie,
- Tunis,
- carton,
- tapisserie,
- viol,
- gavage des femmes
Appendices
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