COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH CENTRE 804 AT TU DRESDEN
http://www.sfb804.de/en/research/research-program.html
JOINT PROJECT throughtranscendence they were legitimated
PROJECT SECTION E
The Subversive Image.
Religious and Profane Patterns of Interpretation in Early
Modern Art
In the 16th century, religious art came under intense criticism from the era’s reformation
movements. New genres emerged that placed themes like peasants' feasts, bathhouses or
bordello scenes on almost the same level as religious subjects. Project Section E examines
the origin of these so-called "profane" genres, such as genre painting, landscape painting and
still-life painting, which emerge outside the functional framework of the church and were
purchased by an urban public for private use. The research explores the forms, functions and
the conditions under which new genres emerged, and analyzes the process of
transformation of religious images.
The research in Project Section E, "The Subversive Image" focuses on the emergence of
new genres of painting in Nürnberg and Antwerp between 1500 and 1550. During this
period of time, the artistic production of these two centers underwent a change in
orientation, with "profane" motifs confidently set side by side with religious subjects, or
integrated into them in highly innovative ways. This new orientation entailed a re-definition
of artistic references to transcendence, causing a shift in the function of the fine arts as a
medium of social, political and religious expression. In large part, paintings of the Middle
Ages aspired to the portrayal of otherworldly, holy subjects, which were often intended to
serve the beholder as "models of emulation", as Frank O. Büttner calls them. To establish a
common horizon for all believers, the new genre painting foregoes direct visualization of the
transcendent. Instead, it restricts itself completely to the portrayal of problematic "everyday
situations", like those to be found in peasant or bordello scenes. Here, a shared ethos is no
longer generated by the positive representation of an – in essence intangible – ideal but
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rather can only be formed through the beholder’s critical and active engagement with the
problematic situations depicted in the paintings.
The aim of the project section is to analyze the forms and functions of "profane" genres in
their genesis. The line of enquiry also includes possible explanations for the immense
success of these genres within northern European art. The key focus here is a visual rhetoric
that no longer aims at rendering religious subjects visually accessible but makes the
beholder aware of his own sensuality and susceptibility to seduction. In this imaging of
everyday life, references to transcendence are often only perceptible in an indirect or
negative way; the new visual forms do not aspire to total transparency, clarity or lack of
ambiguity. On the contrary, they make use of connotations and allusions and experiment
with a wide range of forms of visual tricks and deception. In this sense, they can be seen as
specific exponents of a new form of visual didactics, which requires the critical engagement
of the beholder.
Since the emergence and differentiation of these new visual didactics have not yet been
adequately examined in a coherent way, the research planned in Project Section E will fill a
gap in the scholarship. The analyses conducted aim to explain how the art of the early 16th
century incorporated both religious edification and the aforementioned aesthetic reorientation in equal measure, and what effect this had on its modes of representation and its
choice of subjects. This is particularly evident in the overturn of conventional models of
imitation. The idea that art could provide the viewer with moral exemplars was not the only
aspect of traditional art questioned in genre painting north of the Alps; the accepted artistic
practice of imitation, which took designated canonical works of antiquity and the Italian
Renaissance as models, was also criticized or totally rejected.
Specifically, by critically analyzing paintings and texts as sources, we hope to demonstrate
that the genre painting of the Early Modern period is actually modern in terms of its
aspiration. Although it makes quite ostensible use of classical paragons, it questions their
normative validity through various means, such as by inserting significant references into
inappropriate contexts. The genre image becomes a scene of intentional reversal: the high
becomes low, the classical becomes banal, and the religious becomes profane. Such
strategies aim to establish a discursive-hermeneutic practice that breaks with classical
hierarchies.
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Field of Research
Research in Project Section E, "The Subversive Image" starts on the assumption that genre
painting of the 16th century portrays not only the assembled profane motifs but that it also
creates its own unique form of visual rhetoric. With a repertoire of new formal strategies,
the genre image seeks to involve the viewer in the process of constituting meaning. This
process can only be reconstructed through a detailed, reception-focused analysis of the
image in all of its visual complexity. The aim is to reveal the contours of an anti-classical
visual grammar. This definition of anti-classicism implies a sophisticated didactics of
visualization which distances itself from the kinds of simple schemata that give the beholder
the illusion of sovereignty and freedom of choice. Rather, the process of viewing the
painting is intended to generate insight into the beholder's own weakness. To achieve this,
the artists often make use of a rhetoric of deception that misleads the beholder about the
true nature of the issue being portrayed. The modernity of this didactic model cannot be
emphasized enough. Because the paintings do not make a clear distinction between vice
and virtue, their intended effect is no longer exclusively one of exemplarity or deterrence.
On the contrary, we have here a new form of involvement of the beholder, who is led by the
image to aesthetically experience the inescapable condition of miseria hominis. In light of
the challenges of human sensuality and sexuality, the power of insight itself is implicitly
questioned.
In contrast to previous art historical studies, which have increasingly concentrated on
individual artists from the middle of the 16th century onwards, research in this project
section aims at a wider-ranging investigation with a comparative analysis of the early modern
beginnings of genre painting in the late 15th and early 16th century. A theoretical
framework, in terms of both moral didactics and art theory, should be found for the lower
genres emerging at that time in order to map the specific contours of these new forms of
painting. The foremost objective here is to re-evaluate these often radically new image
concepts in terms of their intellectual and artistic ambitions. Accordingly, the research
pursues a historical and systematic line of enquiry regarding genre painting.
Non-Classical Art – a Paradigm Shift
For art history, a historically adequate evaluation of genre painting is not an easy task. Art
theories from Giorgio Vasari and Karel van Mander to Hegel were shaped by rhetorical
idealism and, ultimately, mainly interested in the ideal of beauty. For this reason, they are
insensitive to the issues addressed in non-classical art. In fact, everything that does not
reflect academic ideals is classified as comic, base or smutty and is ranked at the very
bottom of the genre hierarchy. At best, art theoreticians since the 19th century have
acknowledged genre painting’s focus on the artist's own surroundings and have thus
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posited the presence of a progressive secularization process in this art. The result of this
latter tradition of interpretation is that countless new studies on early genre painting are
dominated by an unreflective secularization paradigm. In this narrative, the emphasis in 16th
century religious images is increasingly put on the worldly aspects of the depiction, with the
result that these paintings eventually acquired a "purely profane character". A three-stage
descent from religion via morality to "pure genre" is usually implicitly posited. This blatantly
teleological model with its wholesale division of religion and morality does not do justice to
the consistently religious motivation behind the visual didactics of early genre painting. This
is the starting point for Project Section E, "The Subversive Image". It aims to demonstrate
that the superficial profanization of iconography, and the innovation of imagery that
accompanied it, can only be adequately understood through religious patterns of
interpretation. But above all, the "visual grammar" of this new pictorial language itself must
be subjected to a detailed analysis.
Genre Painting as a Counter-Proposal to Classical Art – Imitatio and AntiClassicism
In the early modern period, the fine arts underwent a process of dissolution and revaluation
which is characterized by opposing tendencies. On the one hand, religious art comes under
criticism by reform movements. The old concept of the painting as a medium for the
visualization of transcendence is increasingly rejected, especially in northern Europe, where
this refutation finds its most radical expression in iconoclasms, beginning in the 1520s. On
the other hand, this development has a parallel in the Italian-Catholic phenomenon of the
painting with "two faces“, as H. Belting called it. This type of painting strives to be both a
sacred image and a work of art, i.e. to achieve a renovatio of the old concept of the image
under the banner of a new, self-reflective artistic consciousness. At the beginning of the
16th century, this ideal was primarily espoused by artists of the papal court. Here, the
pontificate of Julius II is a crucial factor. Julius commissioned Michelangelo to paint the
Sistine Chapel and Raphael to decorate the Stanze, in addition to amassing an impeccable
collection of antiques in the Vatican's Belvedere. With this directed patronage of the arts, a
canon of classical works of art – based on antique models – is established for the first time,
and it becomes generally accessible through the medium of graphic reproduction, thereby
claiming international prestige. However, north of the Alps the new canon evokes not only
enthusiasm but also, and for the most part, vehement criticism. A clear example of this is
Luther, who in his tract To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation denounces the Pope
for squandering the money of German Christians on his patronage of the arts. Obviously, the
critical backlash from thinkers and artists north of the Alps has a lot to do with the fact that
the canonical works were seen as representations of orthodox papal power. The artistic
canon – according to one working hypothesis – is not perceived as a matter of autonomous
aesthetics but instead first and foremost understood as the manifestation of a claim to
political sovereignty. It is for this reason that canonical works became the frequent targets of
the contempt of northern European painters.
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Nevertheless, the supra-regional formation of the canon also led to the establishment of a
great, common horizon of knowledge for artists and public alike. This is why, from 1500
onwards, we encounter more and more works which allude to well-known originals and
which rely on the erudite beholder to recognize these allusions. So the beholder is called
upon to make a comparative evaluation of what he is looking at. He has to pass judgment on
the degree to which the specific adaptation is successful. Henceforth, aesthetic judgment
entailed drawing comparisons. The "obligation to compare" promoted by antique imitatio
theory benefits subversive art, which makes use of the canon as material for critique. And
so, a distinctive taste developed in the north for the ironically incongruous quotation. In
contrast to the decorum demanded by classical art theory, we find frequent cases of comic
dissociation of form and content. Moreover, quotations are distorted almost beyond
recognition by means of dissimulatio. They no longer refer straightforwardly and
unambiguously to the original – in fact, such references are only registered ex negativo. The
allusion thus acquires per definitionem an ambivalent status. It shows itself and conceals
itself at the same time, something which requires the beholder to not only have accurate
knowledge of the original model but also aconsiderable degree of imagination. In this way,
subversive art mocks classical originals while at the same time assuming a familiarity with
these very same classical models on the beholders part. In other words, it feeds on the
normative guidelines of classical art, and should therefore, in a sense, be categorized as
"parasitic".
The normativity of the Italian models became productive in German and Dutch art not only
because it inspired artists to compete artistically with these paragons, but also because it
provoked ironic and subversive pictorial strategies. When northern European art reacts
critically to Italian models, it usually waged its attack in two directions: on the one hand, the
repudiation of the normative claim of Italian art and art theory; and on the other hand, the
rejection of a type of art that supported the papacy's claim to political leadership. Project
Section E is thus very interested in the question: how far was hidden imagery, and the
methods of formal dissimulation used to produce it, capable of serving the creation of a
shared ethos within those groups that to some degree distanced themselves, in a political or
religious sense, from orthodox positions.
The Genesis of Genre Painting
The objective of the project section is a new reconstruction of the genesis of genre painting.
At the same time we aim to trace the contours of the early history of modern anticlassicism. The starting points for the investigation are various "profane" iconographies, such
as portrayals of peasants' feasts and scenes from bathhouses or bordellos that were
evidently in great demand at the beginning of the 16th century. Even though after 1500, the
emergence of the profane in art can be observed not only north but also south of the Alps,
Germany and the Netherlands still held the leading position in terms of the sheer quantity
and radicalism of these new subject matters and visual concepts. Accordingly, the focus of
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our research is firmly set, first and foremost, on paintings produced in Nürnberg and
Antwerp between 1500 and 1550. These two cities were prominent early modern cultural
centers, and in the period under investigation, produced art of international importance. Our
studies will try to do justice to the specific peculiarities of the two centers by examining
particular artists, iconography, genres and visual rhetoric with the ultimate aim of
systematically compiling and comparing these individual analyses in a final evaluation.
Exemplary studies on the following artists are currently being planned or prepared: Albrecht
Dürer, Barthel and Sebald Beham, Georg Pencz, Jan van Amstel, Lucas van Leyden,
Quentin, Jan and Cornelis Massys, Dirk Vellert, Marinus van Reymerswaele, and Jan van
Hemessen. Using these artists and their works as examples, we aim to demonstrate that
the emergence of genre painting is part of a cultural movement that consciously distances
itself from classical and Italian models and sees itself as decidedly modern. Noteworthy is
genre painting’s self-imposed restriction to a kind of imagery whose base themes clearly
signal that it does not provide direct access to either beauty or truth. Genre painting refrains
from the ideality propagated by Italian art. This classical art, which ultimately defines itself
through repetition of authoritative models, is countered by northern Europeans' demand for
innovation; northern European artists demonstrate that the past can no longer be the
yardstick for the present. In this sense, we are dealing with an early form of the Querelle
des Anciens et des Modernes, in which new models of legitimation are being demanded. By
opposing the canon with non- and anti-classical art, genre painting challenges the beholder
to exercise his judgment more critically. It invites and provokes public criticism – especially
in the medium of print – and, in so doing, creates a new discursive space in which not only
aesthetic worth but also the normative nature of the social order can be discussed.
Genre Painting as a Generator of a Common Sense
In many respects, the new seemingly profane art is capable of generating a sense of
community. On the one hand, genre painting implies a specific client-artist relationship. After
all, these innovative works of art were commissioned by an urban elite, some of whom
rejected their former orthodox Catholic beliefs. The artists in question defined themselves
through critical impulse and posed the question of denominational identity in their works. In
this way, they contributed to denominational group formation. The shared ethos of these
new groups is primarily constituted through the rejection of traditional religious ideas and
practices, and may by fed by Catholic reformist, Protestant or spiritual motives. This can only
be determined from each specific context. Even if genre painting does not work towards a
new dogma, it nevertheless establishes itself through criticism of the old beliefs of a
common enemy: the Roman Church. In addition, genre painting foregoes the strategy of
moral exemplarity. The beholder is confronted with utterly imperfect characters who cannot
serve as examples. The aim of this new genre of painting is not to look to the sacred for
guidance but to achieve a self-critical understanding of sin. The sense of community
thematized here is created by an innovative form of didactics. In contrast to the Catholic
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theory of moral examples, genre painting asks for a complex identification on the part of the
beholder with the depicted sinner.
Paradoxically, this puts the spotlight not only on failure, but also on potential moral
improvement. Ultimately, a shared ethos is formed through training in a hermeneutic
practice characterized by uncertainty and ambivalence. In the majority of genre paintings, the
beholder is explicitly expected to employ a range of interpretational strategies. This
experience of a multiplicity of alternative interpretations leads the beholder into an
assessment process in which Christian-metaphysical and worldly-social claims to validity are
disseminated.
The Subversive Image
The characteristic feature of the subversive image is the possibility, as sketched above, of
questioning norms, of negating superficial truths, and thus at the same time, of elevating
non-conformity. The subversive image demands and promotes a processual perception of
the image, which is characterized by a constant shifting of meaning resulting from a
continuous questioning of assumptions. At the end of the process of reception, the images
may end up depict the exact opposite of what they seemed to signify at first sight. The
polyvalent coding of the images makes it necessary to transcend their visual surface in order
to unfold their full semantic potential.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Müller
Chair of Early Modern and Modern Art History, TU Dresden
After studying art history, German literature, and philosophy at the universities of Bochum,
Münster, Pisa, Amsterdam and Paris, Jürgen Müller earned his doctorate in 1991 at the Ruhr
University Bochum with a dissertation on art theory in Karel van Mander’s Schilder-Boeck.
Between 1991 and 1999, he worked as a researcher and lecturer at the Art History
department of the University of Hamburg. This was followed by visiting professorships in
Marburg, Bordeaux, Paris and Berlin, and his habilitation in 2002 at the University of Kassel
with a treatise on “Das Paradox als Bildform Studien zur Ikonologie Pieter Bruegels“ . Since
2002, Jürgen Müller has held the Chair of Early Modern and Modern Art History at the
Institute for Art History and Musicology of the TU Dresden. In the academic year 2006/07,
he was Rudolf-Wittkower Visiting Professor at the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome and in the
winter semester 2009/10, he was a fellow at the Internationales Kolleg für
Kulturtechnikforschung und Medienphilosophie (IKKM) in Weimar. His main research
interests are early German and early Netherlandish painting, the art of Mannerism, paintings
of the Golden Age, as well as photography and film.
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