The ‘Snake Body’ in Victorian Art
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12895604 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alison Smith (0000-0003-3065-5377, Bridgepoint (United Kingdom), corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 151-164 |
| Publication date | 2005-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Early Popular Visual Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1746-0654 • E-ISSN: 1746-0662 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17460650500198014 |
| OpenAlex | W1982248747 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
This paper examines the emergence of snake iconography in late nineteenth‐century British visual culture, and how this relates to writings which presented the snake as an object of both scientific and moral interest. By providing a visual metaphor for the interior workings of the body, the snake became visible in debates concerning the morality of depicting mutable bodies, as well as intersecting with broader questions about hygiene and dress, and in this area the serpent also functioned as a metaphor for the opposing concepts of beauty and physical deformation
Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Art history · Beauty · Epistemology · Iconography · Literature · Metaphor · Morality · Object (grammar · Serpent (symbolism · Visual arts · Visual culture · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Philosophy · Visual Culture and Art Theory
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |