Paradox/A Epidemica in the Art of Pieter Bruegel the Elder: an Investigation Into Sixteenth-Century Parody
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PARADOX/A EPIDEMICA IN THE ART OF PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER: AN INVESTIGATION INTO SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PARODY by CLIVE CORNEW Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject of IDSTORY OF ART at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF. E A MARE JOINT SUPERVISOR: PROF. DJ VAN DEN BERG JANUARY 1995 TITLE OF DISSERTATION: PARADOXIA EPIDEMICA IN THE ART OF PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER: AN INVESTIGATION INTO SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PARODY. SUMMARY Pieter Bruegel the Eider's paintings De verkeerde wereld, Het gevecht tussen Karnava/ en Vasten, Luilekker/and, Dulle Grief and Landschap, met Icarus' val are interpreted as sixteenth-century parodies using the paradoxia epidemica as a tropic means for interpreting the artist's wit, irony, parody and picaresque stance towards his source material and his milieu. Where applicable, other works relating to a particular argument are also discussed. As a result of this investigation, an original contribution has been made in the literature on both Bruegel and parody as a form of visual communication. KEY TERMS: Adynaton; Bruegel, Pieter the Elder; Carnival and Lent; Dulle Griet; Emblematics; Encyclopedism; Folly; Humanism; Irony; Mannerism; Paradoxia epidemica; Parodia sacra; Parody; Perception; Picaresque tradition; Play; Rederijkers; Reformation; Rhetoric; Satire; Saturnalia; Saws; Seven deadly sins; Seven virtues; Sixteenth century; The fall of Icarus; The fool; The land of Cockaigne; The world upside-down; Trope structures; Utopia; Wit. ...,~ UN IS A BIBI 1n.,-,... ~:;. , 199~ ·tn-? 1 Cltt.:L; Klas 759. 949 2 BRUE Access CORN Aanw:in ... 111111\11111111111 01596105 CONTENTS Preface List of illustrations iii List of abbreviations xii Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Statement of aims 1 1.2 Premise 1 1.3 Preamble 1 1.4 Methodology 2 1.4.1 Perceptual processes 2 1.4.2 The pictorial text and semantics 3 1.4.3 Rhetorical theory of pictorial textuality 4 1.4.4 Alberti and Classical rhetoric 6 1.4.5 Renaissance rhetoric 7 1.4.6 Emblematics 8 1.4.6.1 Friendly rivals 8 1.4.6.2 Res etverba 10 1.4.6.3 Generic mix 12 1.4.6.4 Hieroglyphics 13 1.4.6.5 The tripartite arrangement of the emblem 15 1.4.6.6 Two twentieth-century interpretations of the emblem 15 1.4.6.7 The emblem and the symbol 18 1.4.6.8 Mannerist conceit 18 1.4.6.9 Adage collections 20 1.4.6.10 Emblem groupings 20 1.4.6.11 The emblematist and the audience 21 1.4.6.12 Summary 22 1.4.7 Art and Nature in the sixteenth century 23 1.4.7.1 Italian Mannerism 24 1.4.7.2 Northern humanism 25 1.4.8 The 'new' rhetoric 28 1.4.9 "Theory laden seeing" 29 1.4.10 The tropic criteria for a parodic interpretation 31 1.4.10.1 Parody 31 1.4.10.1.1 A definition of parody 32 1.4.10.1.2 Epideictic rhetoric 33 1.4.10.2 Satire 34 1.4.10.2.1 The satiric genre 34 1.4.10.3 Trope structures 36 1.4.10.4 Irony 36 1.4.10.4.1 Types of irony 37 1.4.10.4.2 Irony, parody and epistemology 37 1.4.10.5 Paradox 38 1.4.10.5.1 A definition of paradox 39 1.4.10.5.2 The paradoxia epidemica 39 1.4.10.6 Wit 41 1.4.10.6.1 Renaissance wit 42 1.4.11 The troubled milieu 44 1.5 Summary 44 End notes 46 Chapter 2. A parody of saws: De blauwe huyck or De verkeerde wereld 64 2.1 The world upside down 69 2.1.1 Adynaton 71 2.1.2 A hotchpotch topos 73 2.2 A farrago of folly 76 2.2.1 Stupid behavior 76 2.2.2 Superstition and hypocrisy 78 2.2.3 Vulgar vitality 80 2.2.4 The Heraclitian and Democritian views 84 2.3 Inspiration for other works 86 2.3.1 De mensenhater 86 2.3.2 De parabel van de blinden 88 2.4 Intellectual considerations 89 2.4.1 Paremiology and encyclopedism 92 2.4.2 Mundus symbolicus 93 2.4.3 Regression 95 2.4.4 Gnomic wit 96 2.5 Summary 97 End notes 99 Chapter 3. Carnivalesque parody: Het gevecht tussen Karnaval en Vasten 118 3.1 The Carnival context 119 3 .1.1 Role reversals 119 3 .1.2 Progression and regression 120 3 .1.3 The calendar of Carnival and Lent 122 3 .1. 4 Carnival concentration 123 3 .2 The two protagonist groups 124 3.2.1 The Carnival group 124 3 .2 .1.1 Prince Carnival 124 3.2.1.2 Prince Carnival's followers 126 3.2.1.3 The Boy Bishop 127 3.2.1.4 De Blauwe Schuyte 128 3.2.1.5 Gaming with Fortune 129 3.2.1.6 Comic festivity and moral manners 131 3.2.2 The Lenten group 132 3.2.2.1 Barmhartigheydt 132 3.2.2.2 Geloof 135 3.2.2.3 Lady Lent 135 3.2.3 An agon of the Reformation 138 3.3 The broader picture 140 3.3.1 Elek and Nemo 141 3.3.2 The peasant's kermis 144 3.3.2.1 The sixteenth-century perception of the peasant 145 3.3.2.2 Bruegel's paradoxical view of the peasant 147 3.3.2.3 Drunk and pig-headed 148 3.3.2.4 The circle of dancing fools 149 3.3.3 The child, the adult and the fool 151 3.4 Toneelvoorstelling 153 3.4.1 The speculum between naer het /even and theatrum mundi 155 3.4.2 Parodia theatrum 156 3.4.3. The panoramic view 157 3.5 Summary 158 Endnotes 161 Chapter 4. The parody of utopian and dystopian folly: Luilekkerland and Dulle Griet 189 4.1 Different sources 190 4.1.1 The background to the land of Cockaigne 190 4.1.2 The subject of Dulle Griet 192 4.2 The figure of Dulle Griet 193 4.2.1 Various interpretations of the figure of Dulle Griet 194 4.2.2 An army of women 194 4.2.3 Contrasts of gender 196 4.3 Contrasts of setting 197 4.4 Folly 197 4.4.1 The giant figure of Folly in Dulle Griet 197 4.4.2 Paradise and utopian folly 199 4.4.2.1 Overvloed and gluttony 199 4.4.2.2 The fool's paradise 201 4.4.2.3 Utopian folly 202 4.4.3 The contrast between utopian folly and dystopian Folly 204 4.5 Simian fools 205 4.5.1 The apes 205 4.5.2 The ape connection 206 4.6 Boschian monsters 207 4.7 Comic hell 208 4.8 The goose connection 211 4.9 Fortune 212 4.9.1 Fortune in Dulle Griet 212 4.9.2 Fortune in Luilekkerland 212 4.10 Summary 214 End notes 216 Chapter 5. The parody of an Ovidian myth: Landschap, met Icarus' val 224 5.1 Ovid's Metamorphosis 225 5.2 Bruegel and Ovid 228 5.3 The motifs of paradox 230 5.3.1 Icarus's legs 230 5.3.2 Icarus's hubris 231 5.3.3 The man-of-war 233 5. 3 .4 The peasant triad 234 5.3.5 Perdix 235 5.3.6 The corpse 237 5. 3. 7 Scene in an ambiguous light 237 5.4 The 'landscape' of genre and counter-genre 238 5.4.1 Genera dicendi 238 5.4.1.1 History painting 239 5.4.1.2 Landscape painting 240 5.4.1.3 The genre of genre 241 5.4.2 Counter-genre 242 5.4.2.1 A problem painting 242 5.4.2.2 The high and low mode 243 5.4.2.3 Natura naturata 243 5.5 The absent Daedalus 244 5.6 Summary 245 End notes 247 Chapter 6. Conclusion 256 Endnotes 260 Appendix 1. Annotations of Bruegel's paintings 263 Table of comparison 276 Bibliography 279 Illustrations 337 Preface The purpose of this dissertation will be to investigate sixteenth-century parody in the art of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The concept of the paradoxia epidemica will serve as the basis for my interpretation of selected examples from the artist's oeuvre. My reason for undertaking this investigation was to study the principles involved in the development of Western parody in art history, which could serve as the basis for further research into this topic. The task which I set myself was a formidable one, which, of necessity, demanded making certain choices to the exclusion of others. In order to accommodate the identification of saws and children's games in three of Bruegel's works, which could not easily be incorporated into the text, I have included them in Appendix 1. All reading matter for this dissertation was gathered and read by 1 January 1995. After this date no additional information was consulted. It is thus regrettable that material which did not reach me in time had to be disregarded. I am indebted to my supervisor, Prof.EA Mare ofUNISA, and my co-supervisor, Prof.DJ van den Berg ofUOFS, for their continued guidance, support, encouragement, and constructive critical input during the writing of my dissertation. I would also like to thank Suzanne Human for consulting with me at short notice on emblematics while Prof. van den Berg was recuperating from his neck operation; and Prof.