ABSTRACT
Focusing on the 'ocular intercourse' taking place between Adam and the female serpent, this chapter examines the subtext of carnal desire and sexual identity in Lippi's provocative presentation. It focuses on the serpent, not only in providing her with a formal identification, but also in establishing her significance in the humanistic and theological culture of late Quattrocento Florence. The chapter argues for Dominican primacy in shaping Lippi's unusual iconography, showing how this grand exposition of wanton display was meant to serve a didactic purpose in modulating social and moral comportment. Paradoxically, however, although conveying clearly defined behavioral expectations for both men and women, the chapter suggests that the bodily features and postures used for Adam and the serpent were rendered in such a way as to muddle gender differences. Ultimately, the chapter proposes that the impetus for this ambiguous treatment was bound up in contemporary ideas linking sodomy, homosexuality and witchcraft.
