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_book_id: 0 _book_language: en _book_alttitle: 0 _dedication_title: Dedication _publisher_id: 0 _collection_id_series: amce i Pieter Bruegel the Elder © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004408401_001 ii Art and Material Culture in Medieval and Renaissance Europe Edited by Sarah Blick Laura D. Gelfand VOLUME 15 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/amce iii Pieter Bruegel the Elder Religious Art for the Urban Community By Barbara A. Kaminska LEIDEN | BOSTON iv Cover illustration: Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Tower of Babel, 1563, oil on panel, 114 × 155cm, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum (photo: KHM – Museumsverband). The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2019023002 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 2212-4187 isbn 978-90-04-40039-9 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-40840-1 (e-book) Copyright 2019 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi, Brill Sense, Hotei Publishing, mentis Verlag, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh and Wilhelm Fink Verlag. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. v To my grandmother, Alicja Kaminska, and her nephew, Almar Miernik ⸪ ContentCsontents vii Contents Acknowledgments ix List of Figures xII Introduction 1 1 Negotiating Entrepreneurship in Early Modern Antwerp: Pieter Bruegel’s Tower of Babel 15 1 For “an Idel and Foolish Ostentation of Money”? The Tower of Babel and the Ambiguities of Progress 16 2 Framing the Tower of Babel: Space, Conversation, People 32 3 Monopolies, Self-Interest, and the Common Good 55 4 Antwerp as an International “Community of Commerce” in Philip’s 1549 Joyous Entry 63 2 Conversion on Display: Imperial Politics, Religious Transformation, and Socioeconomic Stability in Antwerp 73 1 Images of the Conversion of Saint Paul in Probate Inventories and the Location of Works of Art 74 2 “Alzo tot onzer kennesse ghecommen es”: Habsburg Legislation and the Culture of External Display in Antwerp 80 3 Defining Conversion in the Sixteenth-Century Low Countries 90 4 Between Light and Darkness: Bruegel’s Conversion of Saint Paul and Dutch Vernacular Theatre 93 5 Toward a New Model of Religiosity 106 3 “In Their Houses”: Domestic Space and Religious Practices in Mid- Sixteenth-Century Antwerp 108 1 “Permissible even for sailors”? Lay Reading of the Bible and Spanish Legislation in Antwerp 111 2 Theological Approaches to Religious Imagery in Private Households 116 3 In “zyne huysen”: The Procession to Calvary, Ommegangen, and the Relocation of Religious Practices 122 viii Contents 4 “Outside in the Woods”: The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist and Hedge-Preaching in Antwerp 139 1 Picturing Conversations in Bruegel’s Sermon of Saint John the Baptist 142 5 “If You Are without a Sin”: Religious and Artistic Discourse in Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery 151 1 Truth and Penitence in Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery 152 2 Adultery, Idolatry, and Rhetorical Strategies of Bruegel’s Grisaille 172 6 Choosing “the Best Part”: Christian Death and Life in Bruegel’s Death of the Virgin 187 1 “Sweet Sleep” and the Transition from Vita Activa to Vita Contemplativa in Bruegel’s Grisaille 202 2 Artistry and Theological Truth in the Images of the Death of the Virgin 204 Epilogue 212 Bibliography 217 Index 237 AcknowAlcekdgnmowenltesdgments ix Acknowledgments This book takes as its subject an international community whose every mem- ber contributed his or her knowledge, wealth, unique talents, and hospitality to the collective prosperity. It was exactly this type of a community from which I benefited while pursuing my research project, and without which its completion would never have been possible. I owe my primary thanks to Mark Meadow, under whose supervision I com- pleted my doctoral studies, which eventually led to this book. Mark’s intellectual guidance, wise mentorship, and confidence in my abilities shaped me as a scholar, while making this process gratifying and enjoyable. I have also greatly benefited from the exceptional erudition, challenging questions, and enthusi- asm of other faculty members at the University of California Santa Barbara, especially Robert (Bob) Williams, Jeanette Peterson, Ann Adams, and Carole Paul. I am deeply saddened that Bob, whose expertise was crucial for sharpen- ing my understanding of Renaissance art theory, did not have the chance to see this final product of my research. However, the research presented in this book originated long before I left for Santa Barbara. I am forever indebted to Professor Jerzy Axer, the most charis- matic, knowledgeable, and bold humanist and academic I have ever met, who generously encouraged me to continue my studies in the United States. I am only beginning to discover all the wisdom Professor Axer shared with me, and he remains the living proof that convivial conversations have a truly transfor- mative power. I would also like to thank Antoni Ziemba, my mentor in the In- stitute of Art History at the University of Warsaw, for nurturing my intellectual curiosity and patiently advising me on my often too-long seminar papers. Im- mediately before joining the Department of History of Art and Architecture at UC Santa Barbara, generous funding from the Marie Curie European Doctorate in the Social History of Europe and the Mediterranean allowed me to benefit from Professor Bart Ramakers’s unrivaled expertise in early modern Dutch lit- erature. The outcome of my research at the University of Groningen largely informs the interpretations presented in this book. At UC Santa Barbara, the Graduate Division and the Department of History of Art and Architecture supported me financially. Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel provided further funding and access to much of the primary material discussed in this book. In Antwerp, Guido Marnef helped with ana- lyzing nuances of the city’s history, while efforts by librarians and archivists in the Ruusbroec Institute, Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, Museum Plantin Moretus, Rubenianum, and Felix Archive secured the efficiency and x Acknowledgments thoroughness of my primary research. I would like to extend my gratitude to the staff in the Special Collections at the Leiden University and Royal Library in The Hague. At Sam Houston State University, I benefited immensely from my colleagues’ support and interest in this project. I would like to thank the Department of Art for financial help in securing permissions for images published in this book. Finally, I am deeply indebted to all the SHSU faculty with whom I had a pleasure to work in the Faculty Writing Circles for their kindness, collective perseverance, and sharing about the successes and difficulties of academic life. This book would not have been possible without Laura Gelfand, and I am hoping that one day I will have the chance to pay forward her wisdom and in- spiration. The comments of the anonymous reviewer of my manuscript were essential in shaping its final version, and helped me to address many difficult questions about the organization and presentation of the material. I would also like to thank my editor at Brill, Marcella Mulder, for patiently and kindly guiding me through the publishing process. My gratitude also goes to all the individuals who assisted me in securing image reproductions used in this publication. At all stages of my research, I was fortunate to enjoy kindness and understanding from family and friends. My parents, Elzbieta and Piotr, have contin- ued to support me in every possible way throughout the challenges that inevitably come with moving across the Atlantic in pursuit of an academic career. My brother’s family, relatives, and friends in Warsaw made my trips back home worth every minute; I’m particularly grateful to my niece Zuzia for reminding me, in deeds if not in words, that play is older than culture. Thanks also to the friends whom I met at UC Santa Barbara and at the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel. I now think of the graduate school with nostalgia, and I’m grateful for all the times when travels bring us together to again share convivial conversations and laughter. Finally, I would like to thank my husband for his support, without which I would not have been able to bring this project to completion. I have benefited from decades of research on the Northern Renaissance, to which I strove to do justice in my annotations. But there’s one book that in- spired me personally and professionally more than any other—and it’s not mentioned in the bibliography. It was the first Polish edition of Heinrich Wölf- flin’s Die klassische Kunst from 1931. The copy owned by my family bears a dedication to my grandmother, Alicja Kaminska, written by her nephew Almar on Christmas Eve of 1941. According to my grandmother, Almar was a talented young violinist. But his career was cut short when in the spring of 1943 he was killed in the streets of occupied Warsaw. This book is dedicated to him and to