Iconic Difference and Seduction

Abstract

In the following essay, we will argue that the image is a medium of seduction and that seduction, in its turn, is a paradigm for the constitution of sociality on a par with contract and domination. In contrast to many studies of visual sociology that deal mainly with images in popular culture (Mitchell 1994; 2005), we will illustrate our thesis with art, in particular with renaissance paintings.¹ These paintings tell not only mythical stories of seduction such as those of Eve and Adam, Samson and Delilah, John the Baptist and Salome, Mars and Diana, Judith and Holofernes, but they, by their very iconic mode of representation, invite the viewer to look at them and to embark into a realm of ambivalence as the classical figure of seduction does. They attract the viewer’s gaze, stimulate his or her imagination, and promise unspecified sensations if we indulge in the visual lure and surrender to the imagined world. Thereby they link the official cultural imagery of the period to the private and secluded dreams of the viewer. A very special effect is caused by the use of three-dimensional perspective in renaissance painting. It not only opens up an illusionary space behind the canvas, but it also presupposes an ideal standpoint of the viewer, thus taking the viewer into account. In addition to these general invitations to the viewer, renaissance portraits present the depicted person already as an autonomous self (Boehm 1985) without a religious or political context, and they show nudity without a religious pretext.