Barefoot goes a ninfa: regarding a vilancete by Camões

Abstract

In this paper, we mobilize the image-concept of Ninfa, postulated by German art historian Aby Warburg, to consider the performance of the female character who appears in Luís de Camões’ poem “Descalça vai para a fonte”. Leanor, the girl walking through the villancet, displays characteristics of the figural complex Warburg termed Pathosformel: a strategy for suggesting movement in painted or sculpted figures that served as a means of representing, on the surface of the canvas or stone, an inner pathos. Characterized by windblown hair, draped garments, and feet in a walking position, the formula migrates throughout art history, incorporated into a series of characters from very diverse eras, cultural spaces, and media. The so-called Ninfa are therefore characterized as a kind of ghostly survival that traverses time, creating intersections of different eras. Recognizing Camões’ Leanor as a Ninfa, we reflect on the implications of this figure’s appearance in the Portuguese poet’s work.