Phyllis and Aristotle
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Henry d'Andeli was a 13th century Norman poet notable for his works Lai d'Aristote and La Bataille des Vins (English Battle of the Wines). He also wrote Dit du Chancelier Philippe on the subject of his contemporary Philip the Chancellor.
The Power of Women
The Housebook Master
Middle Rhenish, active c. 1465/1500
Aristotle and Phyllis, c. 1485
drypoint
Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Part of a series known as the Power of Women, found in literature as well as other visual arts, this image recounts the late medieval legend that Aristotle tried to teach his protege Alexander about the dangers of love, only to fall prey to this humiliation himself. Consistent with both the courtly audience and the moralizing tone of prints by this multitalented, multimedia Rhenish artist.
Scholars were children of Jupiter, and Aristotle was one of the foremost scholars of antiquity. According to medieval legend he had urgently warned Alexander the Great to abstain from worldly pleasures, but this provoked Alexander's mistress Phyllis, who was determined to humiliate Aristotle and demonstrate the power of the flesh over the intellect. She accomplished this by seducing the great philosopher and then asking him to let her ride on his back. He consented, not realizing that Alexander had been invited to secretly witness this victory.
