Figures of Speech

Figures of Speechaddresses a key topic in Renaissance studies, the importance and pervasiveness of proverbs. For sixteenth-century Netherlanders, proverbs revealed the wisdom of the Ancients as well as the lingusitic richness found in their own native language; for Pieter Bruegel, Hieronymus Bosch, and other Renaissance painters, proverbs were a frequent and appealing subject. In this book, Walter S. Gibson provides a comprehensive and engaging survey of these visual representations, capturing for twenty-first-century readers the moral sensibilities of a time and culture when such adages (and the images conveying their meaning) were invaluable guides to life. The case studies that form the core of this book-Bosch'sHaywaintriptych, theTwelve Proverbsprint series (influenced by Bruegel's style), and a fascinating overview of a popular proverb about breeches-examine the ingenuity with which Netherlandish painters and printmakers manipulated these "figures of speech" for a variety of purposes. The result is an important contribution to the field of Northern art that also makes the study of proverbs accessible to a wide audience.