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Erotic helplessness : a study of the history of the Damsel in Distress theme in art

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1345, Naples. Philippa of Catania, her son and granddaughter are being taken to execution. They, like many other criminals, were involved in the murder of Prince Andrew (a contender for the Neapolitan crown).
The executioners torment their naked bodies with red-hot tongs and cut off pieces of the skin with open razors. In the port of Naples they will be suspended from the masts of ships and subjected to strappado torture and flogging. Then they will be put back in the cart and driven to the final point of the journey, amid the hooting of an angry crowd. There is a hot fire burning there. They will be thrown into this flame while still alive.

All this can be seen in miniatures from ancient manuscripts.14_Witches bitten with pliers on their way to the stake.jpg19_Witches bitten with pliers at their breasts.jpg1713022480546.png
 
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Eulalia of Barcelona/Merída

1 F. Blanch, probably 19th Century: Eulalia stripped in public
2 Cibera, 1852 (illustration for Gaspar i Roig, “Año Cristiano”): Eulalia tied to a cross almost naked, soldiers coming with torches to torture her
3 José Noguera, 1855–70 (an “aleluya” from Spain): series of scenes showing the martyrdom of Eulalia

Blanch1.jpgCibera1.jpgNoguera1.jpg
 
shvonder said:
Eulalia of Barcelona/Merída

1 F. Blanch, probably 19th Century: Eulalia stripped in public
2 Cibera, 1852 (illustration for Gaspar i Roig, “Año Cristiano”): Eulalia tied to a cross almost naked, soldiers coming with torches to torture her
3 José Noguera, 1855–70 (an “aleluya” from Spain): series of scenes showing the martyrdom of Eulalia

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Fortunately, most of the women have halos... you can do whatever you want to them...
 
mysterybadger said:
Max Ernst created his collages from old periodicals, sensational novels and police memoirs:

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To my mind the originals are better and I am still looking for the components of these:

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@mysterybadger, you must post images which are smaller than 400kB - your images 'number 1' and 'number 2' were over a megabyte! You can read all about it in the terms and rules at the bottom of your screen.

On this occasion I have resized them for you.

Thanks.
 
Wragg said:
@mysterybadger, you must post images which are smaller than 400kB - your images 'number 1' and 'number 2' were over a megabyte! You can read all about it in the terms and rules at the bottom of your screen.

On this occasion I have resized them for you.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Sorry!
Given that the system automatically rejects files >1mB can you not just change the Maximum Image Attachment Dimensions to 400kB in the options?
 
There are so many pulp fiction covers I feel they would need their own thread. But this one is particularly apposite:


30768281286_cefd098a19_o-600x1010.jpg

English condottiere Sir John Hawkwood captures a witch and brings her back to his camp:

"A thick stake with a wooden crosspiece hanging from its top by chains stood in a square of grass between the tents. To the stake he dragged the witch, catching her writsts and tying them to the crosspiece so that she hung as if crucified, arms outspread. Her green eyes were wide and staring. her red mouth quivering. After a moment her body began to shudder uncontrollably."

Sir John leaves the witch tied to the post and when he comes back he is faced with a pikeman "who was standing before the witchwoman, slowly divesting himself of his garments.

"The witch was naked. Her clothes lay pooled around her slim white ankles. The manner in which her arms were fastened, so that her body formed a living cross, revealed the full beauty of her figure. Sir John could not prevent the glance that raked upward from full thighs to scarlet apex, to the gentle swell of her belly and the heavy breasts. He had never seen a more beautiful woman."



Paolo_uccello_Monumento_equestre_di_John_Hawkwood_1436_02.jpg

In the book Hawkmoor is a noble chap who saves the witch and flogs his men for assaulting women. In reality "a key component of Hawkwood’s success as a captain was his brutality...and his troops committed some of the era’s most violent crimes. His soldiers dismembered their enemies, raped women, and savagely murdered peasants". Hawkmoor himself is alleged to have stabbed a young nun to death in order to settle an argument between two of his men about which one would rape her first.
 
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