EPIC ARTS IN RENAISSANCE FRANCE Epic Arts in Renaissance France PHILLIP JOHN USHER 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP, UnitedKingdom OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries #PhillipJohnUsher2014 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted FirstEditionpublishedin2014 Impression:1 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe addressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyOxfordUniversityPress 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016,UnitedStatesofAmerica BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2013940965 ISBN 978–0–19–968784–8 Printedby CPIGroup(UK)Ltd,Croydon,CR04YY This book is dedicated to my best reader, my wisest critic, my intellectual soulmate. Acknowledgements The pages that follow have benefited greatly from the advice, feedback, and encouragement offered by colleagues, friends, and family. My first debt was contracted—it is hard to believe—all the way back in 2006, when I gave a paper entitled‘TheGreatFrustration:EpicandNationalIdentityinRenaissanceFrance’ ataconferenceheldattheCUNYGraduateCentre.Ithankthataudience,which included Catherine Briand, Desmond Hosford, Francesca Sautman, Laurier Tur- geon,andmanyothers,forrespondingwithquestionsandcommentsthatshowed the topic worthy of further exploration. In the following years, my research into EpicArtsfoundaudiencesatvariousvenues,andIshouldliketothankmyvarious hosts and interlocutors, especially Bernd Renner (for chairing a panel about Renaissance epic at which I spoke at the Renaissance Society of America (RSA) in2007),TomConley(forwelcomingmebacktoHarvardUniversitytotalkabout Agrippa d’Aubigné in 2007), Patrick Bray and Maggie Flinn (with whom I co- organizedapanelattheModernLanguageAssociationin2007,onwhichfurther workwaspresented),LizHill(forwelcomingmetoColumbiaUniversity’sRenais- sanceSeminartotalkaboutD’Aubignéin2009),Eve-AliceRoustang-Stoller(with whom I co-organized a conference at Barnard College in 2009, where work on Dolet was presented), Elizabeth Emery (for giving Dolet another audience at Montclair StateUniversity, NJ,in2009),andSonia B.Velazquez, AyeshaRama- chandran, and Cynthia Nazarian (for collaborating on a panel about Renaissance epic at the Sixteenth Century Society Conference in 2010). I should also like to thankcolleagueswhoinvitedmetotheirinstitutionstotalkaboutthisprojectinits differentforms,especially:TaddyR.KalasforwelcomingmetoAugustanaCollege in 2008; and everyone at Boston University for their valuable feedback in 2011, especiallyIritKleimanandT.JeffersonKline.Variouspeoplecontributeddirectly totheprojecttakingitsfinalforminprint.IshouldliketothankCurtisHarrisand Jennifer Notari for their help with locating funds for images and the RSA for awardingmeagenerousSamuelH.KressFoundationGranttodefraythecostsof ordering high-resolution images and securing publication rights; Linda A. Bell of theBarnardCollegeOfficeoftheProvostforofferingadditionalfundingforimage rights; Madame Christina Hugot of the Château d’Ancy-le-Franc for graciously providing several images; Sarah Ortega for her dedication and intelligence in researching images and helping secure rightsfor their reproduction;Alan Stewart, without whom I would probably never have submitted the typescript to Oxford; SusanP.Johnson,whoseintimateknowledgeofLatinsavedmeonmorethanone occasion. Everyone at Oxford University Press made the review and publication process a true delight. Thank you especially, Jacqueline Baker, Rachel Platt, Elizabeth Chadwick, Shereen Karmali for being ideal editors throughout the whole process, and to Susan Frampton for giving the text its final proofread. ThankyoutoHilaryWalford forthemost carefulanddedicatedcopy-editingfor viii Acknowledgements which an author could wish. The feedback of the book’s two anonymous readers wasintelligent,insightful,andconstructive,helpingmebringsignificantimprove- mentstoseveralsectionsofthisbook—thankyou. Itisa delight,afterallthistime,tobeabletothank JohnO’Brien forsparking my interest in sixteenth-century literature almost twenty years ago and for con- tinued encouragement; and Tom Conley for demonstrating how to think about literature from new, cartographic and visual, perspectives and for his unending supportandfriendship.ItisanequaldelighttothankstudentsofBarnardCollege, Columbia University, and Boston University, and of Miami University’s summer programme at the Université de Bourgogne, with whom various ideas from this projectwerediscussed.Iamcontinuallygratefultomypastandpresentcolleagues atBarnardCollegeandColumbiaUniversityforprovidingthekindofintellectual environment that makes research and teaching a joy every day, especially Tomara Aldrich, Sam Bloom, Anne Boyman, Christopher Baswell, Antoine Compagnon, Peter Connor, Vincent Debaene, Madeleine Dobie, Kathy Eden, Rachel Eisen- drath, Helene Foley, Pierre Force, Serge Gavronsky, Kaiama Glover, Peter Platt, AnneLakePrescott,IsabelleJouanneau-Fertig,ElisabethLadenson,SylvieLefèvre, Brian O’Keeffe, Laurie Postlewate, Emmanuelle Saada, Karen Santos da Silva, Joanna Stalnaker, Alan Stewart, Phil Watts, Caroline Weber, Loren Wolfe, and NancyWorman. Finally,Imustthankthosewithoutwhomthisvolumewouldnotexistandwho givemyworkitsmeaning.Tomyparents,SusanandDennisUsher,Iexpressmy deepest thanks for their love and encouragement in all I have ever undertaken— suchunstintingbeliefandfaithhavemadeeverythingpossible. I first dealt with certain aspects of Chapter2 in ‘Narrating National Defeat: Recuperative Epic in Renaissance France’, Romance Studies, 28/3 (2010), 169–81.PartsofChapter4receivedtreatmentin‘PropheticArchitecture:Agrippa d’Aubigné in Paris’, in Andrea Brady and Emily Butterworth (eds), Renaissance Futures(London:Routledge,2009),159–80. Contents ListofIllustrations x ANoteonEditionsandTranslations xii Introduction 1 1. Homer,Virgil,andLucan:ClassicalEpicandRenaissanceArt 23 TheRebirthofEpicArt 23 HomeratFontainebleau 31 TheFireplaceofHell:VirgilatOiron 49 LucanandtheCivilWarsinBurgundy 60 2. Dolet’sFata:CelebratingFrançoisIerintheWakeofthe BattleofPavia 75 MonumentsfortheSecondAscension 79 GalleriesofKinglyResemblances 84 ForeignPerspectives 99 EpicVictoryatMarignano 108 EpicErasureofDefeat 111 3. Ronsard’s Franciade:FromNationalGenealogytoTragicLoveStory 120 TheBirthoftheFranciade 121 CalliopeattheLouvre 128 FrancusinParis 132 BeautifulObjects 138 Francus’PictorialAfterlife 145 4. D’Aubigné’sTragiques:AWastelandofGraffiti 160 Tensions:Incultusortropbeau? 165 ACoatofPaintforthePalaisdeJustice 171 TheDevil’sDesignsontheLouvre 181 TheVaticanversustheCanvasofHeaven 190 EpicPerspectivesandtheArtofDelegation 199 ClosingRemarks:FromEpicCassonitoEpicCoffrets 202 Bibliography 217 Index 245
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