print, etching
etching
landscape
figuration
11_renaissance
genre-painting
history-painting
Dimensions: 9 11/16 x 9 9/16 in. (24.61 x 24.29 cm) (plate)
Copyright: Public Domain
Daniel Hopfer made this iron etching known as "The Festival" in Germany around 1500. It offers us a glimpse into the communal life of the time, but we might ask, what is the public role of this art? Is this a true representation, or does it offer an idealized, even didactic, vision of social harmony? The scene is divided into two parts: inside a building where people are eating, and outside where couples are dancing. The attire and activities suggest a rural setting. But the presence of swords suggests a society in which civic order is maintained by force. The work could be conservative, seeking to affirm the existing social order, or progressive, in its implicit critique. To understand it, we would need to look more closely at the material culture of the time. What were the common rituals around feasting and dancing? And how did German society at this time reconcile ideals of harmony with the realities of social stratification?
Comments
Early printmakers never tired of depicting peasant shenanigans. In the sixteenth century peasants were seen by some as emblems of native German culture, while others, like Martin Luther, worried they would disrupt the social order. Across the two halves of The Festival, separated down the middle by a tree, peasants engage in the excesses that so fascinated the staid middle class-imbibing, arguing, fondling, dancing, and vomiting. Even so, the print's orderly composition suggests a more balanced view of the subject. The pride of Augsburg, Daniel Hopfer is credited with making the first etchings in the history of printmaking.
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