#filippo lippi

Because the vulva deserves recognition in art, too - a public crashout over the 1000:0 penis to vulva ratio in Florentine Renaissance Art

Disclaimer: I do not have an art or history degree nor am I personally Catholic, I'm just a nerd who went through an aspiring medievalist phase and is in a newly Catholic family

"The Cosmic Egg", Scivias, Hildegard von Bingen, 1151-1152

Starting off with my personal favorite, "The Cosmos" or "Cosmic Egg" by Hildegard von Bingen - the saint, mystic, abbess, author, artist, composer, scientist, doctor - EVERYTHING, absolutely iconic medieval woman. The egg is clearly a vulva, it was based on one of her visions of the cosmos and creation (birth imagery), the center (vagina) being earth, around it stars, angels, fiery wings, heavenly bodies in orbit, the moon's placement being that of a urethra and the star at the top the clitoris. Hildegard worked in medicine and midwifery so she would be very familiar with the female anatomy (she also wrote the first documented description of a female orgasm - again, ICONIC)

Mandorla/Vesica Piscis, as seen around Christ in the most famous version of "Anastasis" (Descent into Hades), Byzentine-style painting in Chora monastary, Istanbul, Turkey; 1316-1321 by unknkown artist

Mandorla = "almond" (italian) surrounds a sacred figure as an aureola (like a halo but around the whole person). Represents the intersection of the divine and earthly, like the intersection of two circles (Venn diagram). Often used around Christ or Mary, representing the divine birth or rebirth (as seen above, life after death). Also known as Vesica Piscis = "fish bladder", which dates back to Euclid and sacred geometry. The same shape is used to represent the vulva or femininity, and oftentimes there is someone's head or halo at the top positioned where the clitoris would be.

(same scene as from this legendary tumblr post)

"Our Lady of Guadalupe", 1531, unknown/divine origin, possibly Marcos Cipac de Aquino

Not medieval, but has the same mandorla/aureola which notably here has the accordian folds similar to those on a vagina which stretch to allow a baby to pass through without it (hopefully) getting stuck or tearing (much) during birth.

"Adoration of the Child", Filippo Lippi, 1455

Because this post is part of my extended crashout at seeing so many penises in renaissance Florentine art but not a single vulva, this was one painting I saw in the Uffizi that you CAN'T tell me that is not yonic imagery - the pink folds of Mary's dress, her clasped hands at the top, and the baby Jesus lying at the bottom on what coud be a placenta, symbolizing his recent birth. (I have no evidence to support this, but that is my interpretation of the piece)

(Christ side wound below the cut, because gore)