Verkeerde wereld c. 1560

Curator: Étienne Dupérac’s engraving, “Verkeerde wereld,” which translates to “World Upside Down,” dates from around 1560 and offers quite a detailed symbolic tableau. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: It’s incredibly busy. My eye jumps all over, trying to decipher each scene. The overriding mood seems chaotic, almost absurd, like a medieval cartoon gone wild. Curator: Indeed. The artist, with roots in mannerism, packs numerous scenes into this print, presenting various societal inversions. It’s a complex collection of topsy-turvy situations meant to reveal moral decay, and these inversions are rooted in folk traditions as well as philosophical reflections. Do you see a theme emerging for you as you continue looking at it? Editor: The disruptions of power. I see women dominating men, animals ruling humans—a subversion of the so-called natural order, very telling of power dynamics during this period. Perhaps questioning established social structures? Curator: Absolutely, and more so a pointed criticism. The topsy-turvy world served as a powerful emblem of disorder, a commentary on a society seen to be slipping into moral chaos. Take the animal imagery, for example; by placing animals in positions of authority or carrying out human activities, the artist draws upon a long cultural tradition of using bestiality to highlight moral failings, connecting viewers to pre-existing folklore. Editor: So it acts as a warning against veering from established hierarchies? What is communicated to the common viewer when things they understand are challenged or inverted? Is that an emotional wake-up? A disturbance? Curator: Exactly, these recognizable disruptions have significant emotional impact as their shock creates a very lasting memory. By flipping those accepted icons of hierarchy, the artist offers us an active tool of both societal critique, moral teaching and memory retention through impactful imagery. Editor: Understanding that this form of narrative-art provided potent means of relaying historical tensions gives a lot more significance to the piece for a modern-day audience. Thank you, those details brought new insight! Curator: My pleasure; exploring the continuities and enduring power of these symbols brings such life to our perception.