ISABEL WILLIAMS

Power in Nudity: Saint Catherine in Jean de Berry Les Belles Heures

Medieval artists reserved nudity for depictions of the sinful. Images of temptresses, sinners, heathens, and infidels can be seen undressed by their shame and sin. This is particularly prevalent for females as their nakedness often symbolizes sexual temptation. Yet, it is not always the sinners who are presented bare. Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a holy and devout woman, is illustrated unadorned in Duke Jean de Berry’s illuminated manuscript Les Belles Heures. The private devotional book was created between 1405 and 1409 and illustrated by the gifted Limbourg brothers. Nudity and sexual imagery frequent the pages of this devotional book, yet, Saint Catherine’s images are the most striking. Catherine is illustrated semi-nude, with blond hair, white skin, rounded breasts, and a fecund stomach. The Saint has been envisioned as the ideal medieval woman. As the manuscript was created by male artists for the supposedly salacious patron Duke de Berry, scholars argue that this nudity represents Catherine as a sexual object for the gratification of its male viewers. However, the Limbourg brothers’ depiction of Saint Catherine of Alexandria in Jean de Berry’s Les Belles Heures is more complex than this. While Saint Catherine’s nude body indicates an idealized vision of the female form, visually consumed by a male audience, her nudity could also be considered as a source of female power. As the Saint is described in Jacobus de Voragine’s The Golden Legend, a book of hagiographies popular throughout Medieval Europe, Catherine’s strength lies not just in her sexual purity but in her intelligence, persuasion, and wisdom. The Limbourg brother’s illustrations of Catherine simply reiterate the words of Voragine. When considered alongside a religious understanding of nudity and clothing, and in relation to female viewership, Catherine’s naked figure expresses the holy strength, provision, and power of the Christian woman.