Renaissance Society of America, Annual Conference, Berlin Socratic Irony in European Visual Art and Culture 1450–1700 II Sat, March 28, 3:45 to 5:15pm, Hegelplatz, Dorotheenstrasse 24/3, 3.007. Molenaer’s Denial of Saint Peter: A Socratic Festive Tavern Kimberlee A. Cloutier-Blazzard, Independent Scholar The term “chronotope” describes a marriage between a particular subject and setting that fosters the viewer’s expectation of conventional actions. Jan Miense Molenaer’s Denial of Saint Peter (1633) unusually displays the “festive tavern” chronotope, a setting recalling scenes of the Caravaggisti and Bentvuegels, with roots in the ancient Greek symposium: a convivial meeting for drinking, music and intellectual discussion. In daily life, liminal spaces between public and private, such as taverns, fostered social dialogue not possible elsewhere due to social taboo. Molenaer represents himself as a dwarf in the work, a curious motif, unique within his oeuvre, that has puzzled scholars. Molenaer is in fact using costume, setting, gesture, self-representation and physical deformity to provide clues to the underlying Socratic irony of his painting in which the few morally-positive characters are outwardly made to look foolish, shown in non-traditional, ambiguous ways that open up dialogue about hidden truths.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 21:30:40 +0000
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