In
this Flemish tapestry dated to roughly the year 1500, we see a total of ten
people – five noblemen and five peasants. As depicted, these noblemen and
peasants differ in a number of respects, and an analysis of this image will
provide us with some insight into the most widespread power divide in the
medieval world.
Looking at the picture, let us first
parse it into its constituent characters. Over on the left side we have two
noblemen on horseback, backed by two more noblemen. Together with the
sword-bearing man in front of the horses, they make up our five nobles. The
rest of the people depicted – the two in the background and the three in the foreground
– are our peasants.
The noblemen in this tapestry, as
the hawks, dogs, and horses suggest, are embarking on a hunt. The two peasants
in the background seem to be going about their everyday business, while the
three peasants in the foreground are taking a break from everyday business in
order to observe, with awe, the passing nobles. Indeed, take a look at everyone’s
gaze in the foreground. The peasants are staring at the nobles, and the nobles
are looking at each other. The hunting party, then, acts as a self-contained
group moving without care through the lowly peasant fields. The peasants,
meanwhile, relish whatever opportunity they have to cease work and gaze upon
their superiors.
Now of course this tapestry depicts numerous
other differences between the peasants and nobles – the nobles possessing
horses, weapons, and florid hats, for example – but it is this observation of
gaze that strikes me the most. Sure, the hunters on this tapestry weren’t quite
kings, but they were surely aristocrats. Perhaps a morsel of the king’s
divinity trickled down to them, and was enough to make these farmers gape.
No comments:
Post a Comment