Gender
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2020-08-10T16:14:59+00:00
Prints, such as the enlarged reproduction of a woodcut from the Swiss physician and alchemist Leonhard Thurneysser’s book Quinta Essentia (1574) seen here, could function as teaching tools, diagraming the four temperaments as gendered attributes of bodies. The temperaments developed masculine and feminine associations that reinforced the idea that melancholic and phlegmatic temperaments were more appropriate for women, and the choleric and sanguine temperaments were better suited to men.
Read in a contemporary light, this illustration also suggests that the potential for all temperaments (and genders) resides within a single body. Prints in this section nuance the four humors as not strictly masculine or feminine. Like gender, the temperaments are fluid. These prints further suggest that issues of labor, class, race, and sexuality are inherently tied to gender performativity and thus temperamental interpretation.
