Jacometto Veneziano, A Woman, Possibly a Nun of San Secondo, c. 1485

“Fairest Ladies, there are a great many men and women who are so dense as to be firmly convinced that when a girl takes the white veil and dons the black cowl, she ceases to be a woman or to experience feminine longings.” Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron

I suppose there is no better occupation than “Possibly a Nun”

In the first story on the third day of The Decameron, Massetto of Lamporecchio goes to work in a nunnery only to find that the women there are just as lustful (if not more) than he had hoped. This raises the question, are these women still nuns? Is this woman of San Secondo a nun?

Judging by the disheveled state of this "nun's" habit, I have a feeling that this particular woman may not be as faithful to the Lord as her black robe suggests. Though this painting does not scream infidelity, it does not necessarily scream purity either. The way the landscape so consequently begins right at her bare shoulder and continues down her breasts (or lack there of) down beyond the frame. And her "wimple" severely lacks some sort of veil or cornette or...something to make the painting just a bit less, shall we say, uncomfortable.

To make matters worse, this particular painting was coupled with another painting featuring a man, Alvise Contarini, with whom this woman possibly had a "clandestine relationship." And the plot thickens. As silly as the story in the Decameron seems, it does allude to a much broader flaw in human nature - curiosity.

The Nuns in The Decameron are not inherently lustful, they are simply curious, comparable to the curiosity one faces when studying Jacometto's painting of A Woman, Possibly a Nun of San Secondo. When I look at it, I can not help but wonder about her story, her clothing, and how she feels about being "Possibly a Nun."