Looking for Moral Congeniality: Lust, Love, and Physical Bodies in Eighteenth-Century Spain

In 1726, the Spanish Benedictine friar Benito J. Feijoo (1676-1764), in his best-seller Teatro Crítico Universal, defended women’s intellectual capacities. Analysing medical and philosophical theories about how ideas were produced, he argued that female bodies (cold and humid) were perfectly suited to intellectual pursuits. Feijoo’s ultimate goal in demonstrating the equality of sexes was moral. By championing women’s mental capacities, he sought to prevent male sexual attacks, and buttress the bond of marriage. Specifically, Feijoo was one of many during his time who advocated that spouses needed to be morally 'congenial' (congeniar) for a successful marriage. To achieve such 'congeniality,' however, one had to discern a potential lover’s moral characteristics from her external traits and gestures. This paper traces the shifting somatic understandings underpinning such an amorous hermeneutics, excavating the relationship between love, desire and physical bodies in 18th-century Spain. In particular, the paper addresses the rise of medical interest in erotic and pornographic representations. Across anatomical and medical treatises -- yet also disguised in painters’ manuals, guides to conduct, marital and moral-philosophical works, and novels -- sensual paintings and erotic descriptions were analyzed for the different ways in which they both produced bodily effects (e.g., sexual arousal), as well as excited ‘higher’ sentiments (e.g., ‘moral love’). In turn, these analyses were used to instruct potential lovers in Catholic Spain as to how they might interpret visual features and performances so as to successfully distinguish between ‘physical love’ and ‘moral love’, avoiding a marriage premised on false appearances.