"Is there a future in the past": Eventails de Bosse, early modern engraving and the Judgment of Paris

Karen Newman, Owen Walker Professor of Humanities and Professor of Comparative Literature and Professor of English

Wednesday, April 3, 2013, 5:30 PM
Pembroke Hall, Room 305

The availability of luxury goods is often thought of as a twentieth century phenomenon, but the “consumer revolution” taking place in Europe in the seventeenth century accelerated the pace of production, availability and consumption of goods of all kinds, particularly luxury goods. Painting, printed books and engravings, silk, gloves and lace, watches, porcelain and fans all became coveted objects available to a widening demographic. This paper considers engraving, fans and their motifs, and one particular fan produced by the renowned early modern engraver, Abraham Bosse, representing the “Judgment of Paris,” to think about gender and aesthetic judgment, engraving and the copy.

Sponsored by the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women.
Karen Newman GNSS lecture 2013