Parody and Festivity in Early Modern Art

Taylor & Francis

Dwelling on the interconnections between parody and festivity as forms of inversion, the essays in this volume delve into the nature and the meanings of festive laughter as depicted in early modern art. Chapters deal most often with Northern Renaissance and Baroque art; themes include grobianism and the grotesque, scatology, popular proverbs with ironic twists, and a wide range of comic reversals, many hinging on ideas of the world upside down. > Dwelling on the rich interconnections between parody and festivity in humanist thought and popular culture alike, the essays in this volume delve into the nature and the meanings of festive laughter as it was conceived of in early modern art. The concept of 'carnival' supplies the main thread connecting these essays.\nBound as festivity often is to popular culture, not all the topics fit the canons of high art, and some of the art is distinctly low-brow and occasionally ephemeral; themes include grobianism and the grotesque, scatology, py