The chromatism of passions and feminine beauty in the 'Libro de Buen Amor'

Abstract

This work aims to approach the symbolic dimension of the images transmitted by Juan Ruiz Arcipreste de Hita to express the different states of love feelings between a man and a lady, as well as to analyze the chromatism with which he draws in the fourteenth century the author of ‘Libro de Buen Amor’ to the ideal medieval woman.

Through an attentive reading, we look for the shades that define the affections and emotions in relation to the love affair, mediated by a pimp, in the episode of Doña Endrina and Don Melón de la Huerta; it is also observed how Juan Ruiz colors the nuances of female beauty. In order to understand these chromatic allegories, a methodology of comprehensive-interpretative and socio-historical analysis is used. And we try to put into dialogue the representations of the Archpriest with other imaginary contemporaries and previous ones by whom he may have been influenced. It is concluded that the deepening in the medieval pictorial visions elaborated by the writers, and in particular by the Archpriest of Hita, allow us to find senses and colors that defined for centuries our loving feelings and set different archetypes of female beauty.