Paper short abstract:

A perennial methodological issue in anthropological research, presently increasingly salient, concerns the relationship between internal and external landscapes. The notion of beauty has the capacity to mediate between the two. It is thus a critically important idea whilst, at the same time, being understudied. This paper seeks to respond.

Paper long abstract:

Rubens' (1636) painting, The Judgement of Paris and two of Monteverdi's (1645) operas – The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland and The Coronation of Poppea - are taken as starting points in a discussion of the ways visual and musical representations of male and female beauty have classically been used to provoke debates about relations between beauty, power, and morality. As judge in the competition to decide who should be recognized as the most beautiful goddess, the god Paris chose Aphrodite, thus seeming to equate her qualities (freedom, spontaneity, sexual availability) above those of her rivals Hera, goddess of marriage and fidelity, and Athena, goddess of cities and heroes. In a rather comparable way Poppea tells the story of the time in his life when the emperor Nero clearly considered his concubine to be more beautiful than his faithful wife Ottavia. In Ulysses much is made of Penelope’s 20 year long faithfulness while waiting for her husband to return home from the Trojan War, yet (the goddess) Love sings of Penelope’s “Marble Heart” which she (Love) finds almost less than human. Rubens records the feelings of injustice in the expressions of those rejected by Paris seemingly inviting viewers to sympathise with their characters and qualities at the same time that they are likely to be enchanted by Aphrodite’s appearance and sexual warmth. In Monteverdi Poppea enchants whilst Ottavia evokes the highest respect and regret. Such narratives, and the enduring hold they have over contemporary audiences and viewers, are fruitful subjects for anthropological discussion.