Intersections The Anthropomorphic Lens

INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES IN EARLY MODERN CULTURE

Anthropomorphism, Microcosmism and Analogy in
Early Modem Thought and Visual Arts
General Editor

Karl A.E. Enenkel (Chair ofMedieval and Neo-Latin Literature

Westfolische Wilhelmsuniversittit Munster
e-mail: [email protected]) Edited by

Walter S. Melion, Bret Rothstein and Michel Weemans

Editorial Board

W van Anrooij (University ofLeiden)

W. de Boer (Miami University)
Chr. Gottler (University ofBern)
].L. de Jong (University of Groningen)
W.S. Melion (Emory University)
R. Seidel (Goethe University Frankfurt am Milin)
P.J. Smith (UniverslljJ ,o f Leiden)
J. Thompson (Queen's University Belfast)
A. Traninger (Frele Universitat Berlin)
C. Zittel (University of Stuttgart)
c. Zwierlein (Harvard University)

VOLUME 34 - 2015

BRILL

The titles published in this series are listed at brilLcom/inte LEIDEN I BOSTON
VAN BRUAENl!

Smith P. J., Het schouwtoneel der dieren. Embleemfabels in de Nederlanden (15 67-Ca. CHAPTER 2

1670) (Hilversum: 2006).

Stein R. - Pollmann J. (eds.), Networks, Regions and Nations. Shaping Identities in the Monkey in the Middle
Low Countries, 1300-1650 (Leiden: 2010).
Stokvis B., "Bijdrage tot de kennis van het wereldlijke dierenproces in de Noordelijke Christina Norrnore
Nederlanden", Tijdschrift voor Strafrecht 41 (1931) 399-42 4-
Vaemewijck M. van, Van die Beroerlicke tijden in die Nederlanden en voomamelijk in
Ghendt7566-1S68, ed. F. Vanderhaeghen (Ghent: 1872-1881). From the Middle Ages on, the anthropomorphosis of other species troubled
Verberckmoes J., Schertsen, schimpen en schateren. Geschiedenis van het lachen in de Christian convictions concerning humanity's special status. In their oscillating
Zuidelijke Nederlanden, zestiende en zeventiende eeuw (Nijmegen: 199 8). similarity and dissimilarity to mankind, monkeys in particular embodied a per-
Weydts G., Chronique jlamande IS7T-TS84, ed. E. Varenbergh (Ghent - Bruges - The sistent concern that haunts the projection of human qualities onto non-human
Hague: 1869). animals: just as beasts may act like people, so too people can appear all too bes-
tial. Early Modem authors and artists repeatedly cast simians as irrational but
highly skilled imitators ruled by their senses. These imagined monkeys not only
encapsulated the fearful pleasures of the animal within, but also evoked the
specter of a possible inhumanity lurking within the carefully wrought aesthetics
of the creative arts and court culture.1 The complex interweaving of desire, fear,
moralizing, and pleasure that encircled the figure of the monkey at the dawrl of
the Early Modem period can be seen in two depictions of the popular vignette of
the Monkeys and the Peddler.2 Issuing from the elite culture of mid-fifteenth cen-
tuIy Flanders, the Cloisters Monkey Cup [Fig. 2.1] and the entremets from the
third night of banqueting at the marriage of Margaret of York and Duke Charles
the Bold of Burgundy both cast monkeys as performers and connoisseurs
whose ambiguous antics in the end draw the viewer into the realm of the beast.
Exploiting simians' close association with simulation, these seemingly fanciful
explorations of humanity's imperfect doubles directly engaged their viewers with
the problems of sensual delight and mimetic representation in the courtly arts.

Simulating Simians

At once aSSigned human qualities and used as the quintessential sign of the
non-human, animals and their depictions repeatedly tested the pre-modem

1 On the range of meanings assigned simians, see Janson H. W. Apes and Ape Lore in the Middle
Ages and the Renaissance (London: 1952); Sorenson]. Ape (London: 2009).
2 On the motif, see Hardwick P., 'The Merchant, the Monkeys, and the Lure of Money",
Reinardus 19 (2006) 83-90; Janson, Apes and Ape Lore 216-225; Weemans M., 'Herri met de
Bles's Sleeping Peddler: An Exegetical and Anthropomorphic Landscape", Art Bulletin 88, 3
(2006) 459-481; Young B., "The Monkeys & the Peddler", The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Bulletin 44,1 (1986) 441-454.
NORMORE ldONKEY IN THE MIDDLE 45
44

arguably because they spoke so precisely to new conceptions of animals as

all too human. s Interchangeably called monkeys and apes, simians are rela-
tively rare in Western European fables and art until the late Middle Ages, when
they increaSingly came to populate the texts and particularly the images of
European elites as figures of failed humanity.
Most animals in fables act in ways that are largely indistinguishable from
humans: lions, for example, are driven by kingly rather than feline desires. In
contrast, the metaphorical use of monkeys and apes as signs of corrupt human-
ity drew substantially on real simians' ability to act as skilled, but imperfect,
imitators of human activities. As early as the sixth century, Isidore of Seville
noted what he called a false etymology that derived simia from the ape's simi-
larity (similituda) to human behavior.6 Isidore preferred to derive the name
from the Greek for pug-nosed (CTl~oo"), which stressed the animal's ugliness. Yet
this too reflects the anthropocentric bias that structures many interpretations
of simians. As Augustine famously remarked in De natura bani, apes may be
FIGURE 2.1 South Netherlandish, Beaker ('Monkey Cupj very beautiful in ape terms-it is only when held to the standards of human
(ca. 1425-50 with additions). Silver; silver gilt, pulchritude that they appear Wlattractive. 7
ename~ overall 20 x 11.7 cm. The Metropolitan In concentrating on the monkey as a failed human and imperfect Simulator,
Museum ofArt, The Cloisters, 1952 (52.20). Image
later medieval and Early Modem artists and authors simultaneously stressed
copyright © The Metropolitan Museum ofArt.
Image SOUTce: Art ResoUTce, NY. its humanlike qualities and reinforced a boundary between its activities and
those of people.s In visual and verbal depictions alike, monkeys routinely
appear as thoughtless, compulSive imitators of human actions. Manuscript
bOWldaries erected between mankind and all other species. Early Christian marginalia endlessly depicted gluttonous, vain, and aggressive monkeys as
sources largely treat animals as objects or tools, but from the twelfth century, imperfect parodies of all varieties of humanity from nursing mothers to clerics
European art, literature, and legislation increasingly probed the boundary to lmights, with each imitator largely Wlmoored from a narrative context that
between man and beast 3 From the satirical adventures of Reynard the wily might appear to suggest intentional motivation. 9
fox to the trials of crop-destrOying locusts, medieval Europeans increasingly
conceived of and treated animals as sentient beings that acted with human- 5 This discrepancy is noted by Salisbury; Beast Within 106. Beyond limited classical references,
like intent, even as theolOgians continued to insist that only humans possessed it does not appear that true apes were known in Europe until the sixteenth centlll}': refer-
true reason. 4 Many of the creatures selected for frequent attention either lived ences to apes most likely refer to 'Barbary apes', a variety of macaque with a stubbed tail
in close proxlmity to people (such as pigs) or had long been sanctioned by frequently picturedJn late m edieval manuscript. marginalia (So renS(ln, Ape 43). Janson notes
tradition (such as lions). Simians, however, rose to prominence in late medi- that ape Ima.ges regain p opularity slowly in the twelfth cen tury. with n umbers radIcally
increasing in the thirteenth century (Apet and. Ape L{Jre 43- 56, liO, ,63). The literature on
eval and Early Modem discourse despite their continued rarity in Europe,
111e subsequent EllIopean interest in prtmalesis extensive. For examples. see Sorenson, Ape
48- 91, 95- 162.
3 Salisblll}' J., The Beast Within: Animals in the Middle Ages, second edition (New York: 2011) 6 Isidore of Seville Etymologies ofIsidore ofSeville, ed. S. Barney et al. (Cambridge: 2002) 253.
7 Augustine The De Natura boni of Saint Augustine, trans. A. Moon (Washington D.C.: 1955)
10-145·
4 Le Roman de Renard, ed. L Foulet (Paris: 1914); Evans E. P. The Criminal Prosecution and 74-'75-
Capital Punishment ofAnimals (New York: 1906); Salisblll}', Beast Within 108--115. A useful dis- 8 Salisbury, Beast Within 122-123.
cussion of the language used in animal anthropomorphism can be found in Crist E. Images of 9 Janson, Apes and Ape Lore 163-198; Wirth J. Les marges adroleries des manuscrits gothiques,
Animals: Anthropomorphism and Animal Mind (Philadelphia: 1999)· 125IJ-13S0 (Geneva: 2008) 197, 244-6, 313-318.
•
NORMORE MONKEY IN THE MIDDLE 47

The unreflective character of monkeys was particularly tied to their reliance humanlike behavior. The larcenous monkeys besetting the sleeping peddler
on surface appearances and taste for sensual pleasures. Bestiaries and early adhere to this larger model in several ways: as thieves they exhibit greed and
encyclopedias informed read,ers that wild monkeys could be caught by setting defile both social decorum and the trade economy; as musicians and seekers of
traps that took advantage of the simian's drive to imitatehurnans and inability vanity they revel in their base and foolish love of carnal pleasure. Yet these are
to understand the potentially harmful reality lying beneath outward attrac- unusually self-motivated monkeys by traditional standards, capable not only
tlveness.10 If a Jmnter pretended to place birdlime on his eyes, for example, a of pilfering from the defenseless peddler, but also of correctly using a wide
watching lnonkeywas certain to do 'so in truth and in the process blind himself. variety of civilized objects 'Alithout any obvious human actor that they might
Sucbanecdotes suggested that evenjn their most seemingly human behaviors, be imitating. The scene of the Monkeys and the Peddler thus hovers uneasily
monkeys instinctively reacted to stimuli rather than displaying reasOning between the traditional mockery of imperfect simian simulation and a possi-
abiljty.1l This constructed mindlessness was then mined for its moralizing pos- • ble recognilion of real parallels between the creative abilities of monkeys and
sibilities: just as the hunter trapped the unreflective ape, a person acting with- men. Its enactments at the marriage feast of Margaret of York and Charles the
out reason would inevitably be caught by the devU. Bold and on the Monkey Cup each demonstrate the malleability and nuance
Monkeys were also closely associated with a passion for sensual delights, with which this seemingly simple motif could probe the sensitive barrier
which frequently prevented them from perceiving truths available to the more between courtiers and animals in the realms of imitation and aesthetics.
rational human. In a favorite motif, monkeys were repulsed by the bitter outer
shell of a nut. and so threw it away immediately.rather than reach the sweet
meat within. If, as the medieval cliche ran, higher allegoI1cal and spiritual Aping Courtiers
meanirJg is hidden like a nut within the shell of a text, monkeys were clearly
considen;d incapable of obtaining it Slave to its senses, the monkey was thus The pan-European guests attending the marriage of Charles the Bold, Duke of
literally and figuratively liable to be blinded by them.. In humans, a similarly Burgundy, and the English princess Margaret ofYork experienced the pleasures
wandering attention and inability to discern underlying truths was character- and challenges of bestial doubles at first hand. The third night of celebratory
istic of the vice of curiositas. which was personified as a monkey at Chartres.12 feasting began by asserting its ducal patron's superiority over both his social
The vignette of the Monkeys and the Peddler both belongs to and nuances inferiors and non-human animals through the conflation of these two groups.
this longer tradition of ape lore.ltis largely agreed to have originated in visual Yet as the evening wore on a series of simulated animal performances slowly
art and always remained a more popular subject for artists than authors.13 Its began to erode the distinction between aristocrats and animals, culminating
narrative content is slight. A peddler lies down to sleep only to be set upon in a moment of reversal where the staging of the Monkeys and the Peddler
by thieving monkeys. Ransacking the peddler's goods, which include musical was directly juxtaposed with the dancing of the noble company. Simulation
instruments, mirrors, and other signs of worldly pleasure, the monkeys then and artistic appreciation were the twin forces that drove this disintegration,
proceed to make merry with them. Signifiers of human degeneracy. monkeys intriguingly linking both profeSSional performance and elite self-presentation
were cast as flawed impersonators condemned to mockery preCisely by their with animalistic inclinations.
Entering the feast hall in Bruges on the eveRing of 5 July 1468, the wedding
guests were immedjately immersed in a fanciful militaryencampment. 14 On
10 Janson, Apes and Ape Lore 3,:-34. each table were platters and pastries covered by glistening silk tents decorated
11 Similar rhetorical strategies in modern nature writing are discussed in Crist, Images with the ducal coat-of-anus and the personal mottos of both the Duke and his
166-172 . new Duchess alongside the name of a subject town; each pastry also included
12 On the ape as a symbol of curiositas, see Janson, Apes and Ape Lore 112. On medieval
two small humanoid figures at the base. In the center of the hall rose a tower
conceptions of curiositas see Carruthers M. The Craft ofThought (Chicago: 1998) 82-94;
reaching all the way to the ceiling. a model of the Blue Tower of Gorinchem
Hamburger j., "Idol Curiosity" in Krtiger K. (ed.) Curiositas: Welterfahrung und iisthetische
Neugierde in Mittelalter undfrilherNeuzeit (Gottingen: 2002) 21-57; and Wood C., "'CuriOUS
Pictures' and the Art of Description", Word & Image II (1992) 332-52. 14 Marche O. de la Memoires d'Olivier de fa Marche, eds. H. Beaune - Arbaumont J. d',
13 Janson, Apes and Ape Lore 217; Weernans, "Sleeping Peddler" 459. volume 3, (Paris: 1885) '51-'54.
"y IN THE MIDDLE 49
MOl'll<"

that Charles had begun work on while still count of Charolais. From this tower · "~t Charles the Bold v.1thin the summer of 1467 alone.18 The ambiguous
~ro~ .
emerged a watchman who, after feigning fright at the sight of all the assembled wale figurines besetting the duke's glittering silk tents exploit the slippage
tents, recognized them as allies and entertained them with a series of musical between anthropomorphized monkeys and zoomorphized humans to tepre·
performances: goats on the sackbut and bagpipe, -wolves with flutes in theit ent the unease of contemporary politics. In conjunction with the small size
paws, and singing donkeys each serenaded the guests from the tower. The ~f the marmosets, this blurring of the I?oun~aries between speci~s aI)ows the
entertainment concluded when a group of monkeys discovered a merchant's puke to exploit the traditional Biblical guarantee of human lordship over ani-
bag of goods and performed a morisque dance with them, followed by the tra. IJl,3Is in order to both visually and theologically assert his ability and right to
ditional removal of the tables and dancing of the assembled guests.l5 control a group of opponents whose miniaturized, bestial depiction marks
A first possible reference to simians was among the earliest Sights to greet . them not only as negative but also irrational and destined for subservience.IS
the guests. Many of the gilded pavilions emblazoned with ducal insignia The striking similarities between humans and simians encapsulated in the
that dotted the feast hall were literally undercut as sjgns of authority by the fifteenth-century term 'marmoset' are thus deployed at the opening of the
small figures attacking them from below. The memoirist Olivier de la Marche banquet to belittle the duke's non-aristocratic political opponents.
recounts that on 'each pastry were two gold and azure mannosets clothed in This seemingly simple formulation in which zoomorphism Signals social
silk, who seemed to be attempting to destroy the pastries with various tools: debasement became increasingly unstable as the banquetunfolded. Performed
some with hoes, others with clubs, others with spades, each of them makinga by costumed humans, the goats, wolves, and donkeys that serenaded the guests
different face'.16 As one of the principal planners of the marriage festivities, de from within the model tower skillfully played their instruments not Simply to
la Marche is far from a neutral witness to the banquet he describes. His choice make noise, but rather to please with courtly ch«nsrms arid motets. The result-
of the term 'marmosetz' to describe these figures suggests that the-aggressive ing ambiguity between the animal and the court entertainer is at once humor-
humanoids were meant to convey qualities shared between real simians and ous and unsettling, a tension epitOmized in the donkeys' song that fonned the
degenerate men. As in the modem French 'marmousef, the fifteenth-century penultimate act of the evening. Hovering between performing and mocking
'marmoset' applied rather broadly to small humanoid grotesques, a group in courtly love, they serenaded the new bride with a four-part harmony of inter-
which simians were often inc1udedP Precisely because its bestial connections species affection:
made it derogatory, the term marmoset could also be applied to depictions
of vilified groups. At the wedding festivities, it appears to be laborers in par- Do you play the ass, my mistress?
ticular who were singled out for condemnation. Despite their silk clothing and Do you believe, for your rudeness,
exotic coloration, the marmosets at the marriage banquet of Charles the Bold That I should abandon you?
and Margaret of York are marked as workers in revolt by the lower-class hoes, Ab, neither for kicks nor for bites
spades, and clubs they wield against the coats-of-arms and other marks of That might come to me would I leave you.
ducal power embroidered on miniature tents that protected the pastries.ln the For eating thistles like ajenny [... J
years surrounding 1468 the possible real world analogues to these miniature 1 cannot stop loving you
attackers were legion: the artisans of Ghent, Liege, and Mechelen all revolted Do you play the ass?
Be silly or mocking,
15 The morisque was a well-established dance in late medieval France apparently related Whether it be cowardly or brave,
but not identical to the Spanish moresca and English Morris dances. Its choreography I was made to honor you.20
remains a matter of substantial debate, but seems to have included loud footwork and
exaggerated, potentially lewd, gestures. For a discussion of the morisque, see Stefano G.
di, "La Morisque en France", Le Moyen Frrm~ais 8-9 (1981) 264-290. 1.8 Vaughan R Charles the Bald reprint (New York: 2002) 5-15.
16 Marche, Memoires 151: 'sur chascun paste avoil deux mannosetz d'or et d'azur, et vestuz de 19 Freedman P. , "The Representation of Medieval Peasants as Bestial and as Human", in
soye, qui tenoient maniere d'effondrer lesdit.: pastez de divers outilz: les ungs de hoyaubc. Crel,lger A. N. R. - Jordan W C. (eels.) The Animal/Human Boundary: HistoricalPerspecttves
les autres de massues, les aultres de besches; et chascun faisoit diverses contenances·. (Rochester. 2002) ZS-49.
17 Poerck G. de, "Mannouset. Histoire d'un mot", Revue beige de philologie et d'histoire 37, 3 Marche, M€moUe,s ]53: 'Faictes vous I'asne, rna maitresse?ICuvoP7 v""c
" "'1.... ..,. .. _ ,'"
(1959) 615-644.
50 MONKEY IN THE MIDDLE 51

Despite their asinine exteriors, the men within the donkey costumes sing a trUJDpet, the guardian of the tower at the room's center ~ommanded that
rather than bray, aurally marking themselves out as people as well as animals. a morisque be danced to entertain the assembled guests. In response, a door
The mixing of human and non-human animal is extended as the lyrics repeat_ opened and seven actors dressed as monkeys emerged onto the tower's bal-
edly describe their courtly lady (likely a reference to the royal bride seated in cony. Almost immediately they came upon a peddler sleeping beside his mer-
the audience) as potentially bestial-it is she who might descend from her chandise. The firstmonkeyilien took and began to playa tambourine.and flail,
decorous dining into biting, kicking, and inhuman eating practices without the next grabbed a mirror, another a comb, until the merchant's goods had all
ever lOSing the singers' affections. In its protestations of devotion, the Song been seized. With their loot in hand. the thieving monkeys then. performed the
cleverly ties together high and low, the daily use of donkeys as working ani- demanded morisque around and around the tower, finally leaving as they had
mals renowned for their patient service with the fashionable pose of abject come. Strikingly; at precisely this moment the tables were removed and the
subservience reqUired from men by the rarified social code of courtly love. 2! audience became the spectacle as the assembled guests in tum began to dance
By humorously pointing out the overlap between farmyard animals and pas- the remaining night away.
sionate courtiers, the singing donkeys invite their listeners to contemplate the The entremet of the Monkeys and the Peddler blurs the boundary between
dynamics of love service, which paradoxically elevates men for the same obe- simians and humans in mUltiple ways. On the one hand, the monkeys act as
dience used to denigrate beasts. imitators of men. Some of this mimicry is relatively neutral: the lead monkey.
The donkeys' claim that they were 'made to honor you' also importantly for example. pretends to be shocked when he first sees the assembled audience
speaks to the realities of the entremet's performance. In order for this spectacle much as the tower's guard had done when he entered ilie room at the begin-
to unfold, costumes had to be made and donned, singers hired and coached. ning of the banquet. 24 More of the monkeys" actions signal their assumed
The value placed on the visual impact of the costumes is suggested not only degraded state. however: they are entranced by and cannot refrain from
by de la Marche mentioning that they were 'very well made',22 but also by the purloining the very human possessions of the peddler. Although not always
fact that the production of the evening's animal heads was put in the hands of combined, similar scenes of monkeys stealing, dancing. and handling mirrors
Jean Hennecart, an illuminator and varlet de chambre who was one of the four and combs were widespread in marginal imagery of the period and are usu-
organizers of the marriage celebration.23 By drav..'iDg attention to the human ally taken as representations of the vanity and folly of earthly delights. The
agency at work in the creation of the visual and aural spectacle as the entremet morisque iliat the monkeys performed likewise fits neatly into the paradigm of
unfolded, the amorous donkeys invited viewers to admire the artistic skill that apishness as a sign of suspect humanity. In performing the recognizable steps
made the pleasurable consumption of anthropomorphized animal singers of an established dance, the monkeys appear to possess a humanlike ability to
pOSSible. intentionally structure their movements rather than simply react. Yet the loud
The stagiIlB of the Monkeys and the Peddler followed directly on the don- foot-tapping, sexual suggestion, and mimed aggression of morisque dancing
keys' remarkll~ly civilized declarations of love. and expanded further on its sat uneasily alongSide the bodily decorum considered central to elite identity.
investigatio~ p'f the relationShip between man, animal, and artifice. Sounding Courtiers might perform the morisque, but it was more closely associated with
mummers portraying exoticized and suspect groups from Moors to fools to
que je vous laisse./Pour manger chardon comme asnesse [... J Laisser ne puis de VOllS monstrous Wild Men. 25 The monkeys' dancing could therefore be taken, like
aymer./Faictes vous l'aisne?!Soyez farsante ou mouqueresse./Soit laschete ou hardiesse.! the lower class implements of the marmosets on the surrounding tables. as a
Je suis faict pour vous honnorer'. meiliod of distinguishing them from their elite audience.
On the metaphorical and practical use of donkeys, see Bough J., 'The Mirror Has Two
21
Yet at the end of the evening, it was the assembled courtiers who seem to
Faces: Contradictory Reflections on Donkeys in Western Literature from Lucius to
ultimately have succumbed to the allure of monkeying around as the tables
Balthazar", Animals 1 (2011) 56-68.
were cleared and they began dancing in the space so recently occupied by the
22 Marche, Memoires 153: 'Moult bien faictz'.
23 Hennecart was reimbursed directly for "fil, et aiguilles, a coudre testes de Singes, de
chievres. de loup et de plusieurs autres ouvraiges molez"; Laborde L. Les Dues de Marche. Memoires '5'.
Bourgogne. etudes sur les lettres. les arts, et I'indiustrie pendant Ie XV' slecle, vo!. 2 part 2. Hornback R.. "'Extravagant and Wheeling Strangers': Early Blackface Dancing Fools,
(Paris: 1851) 367. RaCial Impersonation, and the Limits of Identification", Exemplaria 20. 2 (2008) '97- 22 3.
52 NORMORl! !<IONKEY IN THE MIDDLE 53

morisque. Since surviving documentation does not make clear what dances the courtiers at this banquet were equally likely to evoke the ambiguous laughter
courtiers performed, it is impossible to lmow whether movement underscored identified by Mikhail Bakhtin as a central feature of medieval humor, leading
or denied the similarities between the two types of dancer: the shared space the courtiers to laugh Simultaneously at the monkeys and at themselves, to at
and close temporal proximity of the performances at the very least prompts once deride and celebrate their own 'bestial' qualities, and in doing so perhaps
potentially uncomfortable comparison between the two groups. Group danc- to find pleasure in the momentary collapSing of their usual categories. 29
ing after dinner was commonplace in Burgundian court festivities, so that the As in the earlier donkey entremet, this pleasure in self-reflection is also
juxtaposition of animal and human dancers draws unusual attention to this found in the recognition given to the artifice required to stage the Monkeys
familiar pleasure's potentially degrading physicality and frivolity, qualities fre- and the Peddler, and to its parallels in elite self-fashioning. Olivier de la
quently condemned in simians. Though far less disastrous in its olltcome, the Marche's description of the monkeys' morisque explicitly reminds his readers
linkage here between elite dancers and bestial performers may have reminded of the technical skills that went into making these supposed animals: the mon-
moralists of the infamous Bat des ardents, which was a topic of renewed inter- keys are 'very well made after life, and inside their costumes had very good
est at the Burgundian court during the years surrounding the marriage of bodies and made good and novel turns'.30 The monkeys are thus brought to life
Margaret of York and Charles the Bold.26 At the Bat des ardents, the simian-like by both the mimetic skills of the costumers and the inventive bodies of their
Wild Man costumes of several courtiers, including King Charles VI of France, performers. The entremet itself traces the overlaps between the costumes of
caught fire while they danced, resulting in several deaths. Jean Froissart's the actors and the clothing of the courtiers. A brief description of the entremet
account of this horrifying event suggests that it was seen by many as a warning in the ducal payment records reveals that the merchant's goods consisted of
to Charles VI to abandon 'young idle wantonness'.27 'colored stones, mirrors, ribbons, heads carves, and similar items', that is, the
Yet while an unsympathetic viewer might condemn the intertwined specta- paraphernalia of fashionable dress.31 Having first highlighted the clothing of
cles of SCripted monkeys and unscripted courtiers alike, the actual experience human bodies by stripping the peddler, the monkey actors seized upon items
for the assembled guests was far more nuanced. As participants celebrating a used in the decoration of an attractive courtly body in the form of mirrors and
marital alliance between two of the wealthiest and most powerful families in accessories. 32 The staged disrobing and display of accessories is thus a synec-
Western Europe, both guests and hosts were required to show their respect for doche for the costuming activities reqUired for both actors and audience.
the occasion through their magnificent display. As the donkeys' song suggests, Although he notes the realistic costuming of both the donkeys and the boars
the anthropomorphized animal entremets at the third night's banquet were earlier in the evening, de la Marche's account of the monkeys places unusual
meant to be gifts of delight and to bring honor just as were the more solemn emphasis on the abilities of the performers not only as musicians, but also as
performances of the heroic deeds of Hercules staged at the banquets on the sec- mimes who communicate through the medium of their bodies, a skill similarly
ond, fifth anq eighth nights. 28 They did so in part through their humor. While prized in the elite dancers who followed them. The skill of the monkey playing
laughter can serve to reinforce social hierarchies by being directed against a the tambourine and flail offered a visible reminder of the labor providing the
group's percefved adversaries or inferiors, the twin dances of monkeys and music to which both courtiers and monkeys danced, while at the same time
the 'novel turns' of the simulated simians were paralleled with those of the
26 The lmoWfl patrons of the nine surviving illustrated copies of Book N are: Anthony, the dancers who followed them. The actors further combine human and bestial
Grand Bara;rde of Burgundy; Philippe de Cornmines, one-time servant of Philip the Good;
Edward Iv, Margaret of York's brother; Louis de Gruuthuse, Charles the Bold's stadtholder
for Holland, Zeeland and Frisia and one of the principle ambassadors negotiating 29 Bakhtin M. Rabelais and His World, trans. H. Iswolsky (Bloomington, IN : 1984) 11-12.
the marriage of Charles and Margaret of York; and the dukes of Burgundy themselves 30 Marche, Memoires 154: 'moult bien faictz aupres du vif, et yavoit dedans l'abillement de
(owners identified by Stock L. K, "Froissart's Chroniques and Its Illustrators: Historicity tres bons corps et qui faisoient de bons et nouveaulx tours'.
and Ficticity in the Verbal and Visual Imaging of Charles VI's Bal des Ardents', Studies in 31 Laborde, Dues 327: '[ ... J primes, miroir, aguillettes, huves et sembables [.. .]'.
Iconography 21 (2000) 123-180, 123-125). 32 On the centrality of accessories for the medieval concept of fashion, see Heller S.-G.
27 FroissartJ. The Chronicles o/Froissart, ed.J. Bourchier (London: 1924) 42L Fashion in medieval France (Cambridge: 2007). On the erotics of the same items, see
28 Marche, Memoires 143-148, 166-174, 183-187. Camille M. The MedievalArt o/Love: Subjects and Objects o/Desire (New York: 1998).
54 NORMORl! ){ONKEY IN THE MIDDLE
55

expressions, miming not only surprise, but also, according to de la Marche, 'the both internally and externally, the Monkey Cup's multiple scenes gain peculiar
countenance of monkeys'.33 and compelling resonances when seen in terms of their programmed unveil-
This emphasis on mimetic action is particularly fitting given the long_ ing in the course of the cup's handling and use. Particularly when considered
standing association of monkeys with imitation. Yet the fact that it is in reality as an object in action, the Monkey Cup prompts reflection on the boundaries
humans who both simulate monkeys in the entremets and follow their lead in between human and animal, creation and reception, in both elite identity and
the dancing that follows leaves the final meaning of the evening's entertain_ artistic production.
ments in a curiously unstable interpretive limbo; both man and animal seem The fifteenth-century painted enamel exterior of the Monkey Cup most
equally open to celebration and concern. Zoomorphosis may have begun the closely resembles a contemporary manuscript margin given three-dimensional
evening as a condemnation of non-elites in the marmoset figurines, yet as ani- form: densely ornamented with endlessly interlocking stylized foliage, it teems
mal after animal is swept up in courtly anthropomorphosis in the end it is the with monkeys and human trifles. As the viewer's hand turns and the eye moves
elite human guests who are encouraged to ponder and perhaps to find plea- unceaSingly around this busy surface, the only clearly demarcated areas in
sure in probing their own potentially bestial natures, paradOxically linked With which to pause and rest are three scenes near the bottom separated by the
the hyper-civilized performance of their courtly personae. curve of the cup. Two of these lower scenes show monkeys at the base handing
a range of human goods from combs to sword belts to musical instruments to
their fellows perched in the branches above: in one vignette they pull items
Monkeying Around the Monkey Cup from a large sack, in the other the precise source of their loot lies just around
the comer out of Sight.
A similar interest in drawing the viewer both phYSically and intellectually into The original owner of the purloined objects is revealed on the third side
the troubled relationship between artifice and anthropomorphosis animates [Fig. 2.2]. There, the scene centers on a peddler, in the form of a young red-
the so-called Monkey Cup now in the Cloisters [Fig. 2.1]. Although its original haired man who lies with his small white dog at his side near the cup's base.
cover has been lost, the Monkey Cup is recognizably a beaker or drinking ves-
sel intended to be used in elite banqoeting. In its current form it appears to
be the result pf two major stages of construction. In the first, the traditional
beaker form ,_married to exceptional decorative luxury in the form of exqui-
site semi-gri~~e painted enamel and metalwork. The technique as well as
the style of i~' enamel figures suggests that the Monkey Cup was created in
the second cJ9!1f1:er of the fifteenth-century Franco-Flemish Burgundian cul-
tural sphere Jpr elite, although perhaps not local, consumption.34 In the sec-
ond stage of-'pvnstruction, a sixteenth-century Italian medallion was placed,
perhaps as ar~pair, at the base of the cup's interior: while clearly post-dating
the remaind~f of the cup in style, and likely Originally conceived as a sepa-
rate object, this new juxtaposition in many respects elaborated on the themes
already at work in the Monkey Cup's enamels. Decorated fully in the round

33 Marche, MemoireSl54: '[ ... Jtenant countenance de cinges [... j'.

FIGURE 2.2 South Netherlandish, Beaker ("Monkey CUPI (ca. 7425-50 with additions).
34 Baumstark R (ed.), Schatzkammerstiicke aus der Herbstzeit des Mittelalters: Das
Silver, silver gilt, enameL overall20 x 71.7 cm The Metropolitan Museum of
Regensburger Email Kiistchen und sein Umkreis (Munich: 1992); Warburg A.., "Artistic
Art, The Cloisters, 7952 (52.20). Detail ofsleeping peddler. Image copyright
Exchanges between North and South in the Fifteenth Centuxy (1905)" in Forster K (ed.)
© The Metropolitan Museum ofArt. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity: Contributions to the Cultural History of the European
Renaissance, trans. D. Britt (Los Angeles: 1999) 275-280, 277.
56 NORMORE ?dONKEY IN THE MIDDLE
57
The peddler is arranged according to the conventions for depicting sleepers:
propped up on his side with his left leg partially folded, his body is displayed
at full-length to the viewer's gaze while his white face rests cupped in his left
hand. Both he and his dog are remarkably oblivious to the troupe of Barbary
apes surrounding them in a rough semicircle. The four monkeys are engaged
in a variety of acts of desecration and revelation. Two are paired at the man's
head. The one to the farthest right removes the peddler's hat to display and
brush his curly red hair while another monkey grooms the revealed hair in
a manner suggestive of real simians and appears to sample a louse he has
found there. Two more are placed at the peddler's feet: one neatly strips off the
sleeper's hose while the other motions to his companions to come look as
he begins to peel back the bottom of the man's patterned tunic.
Although this scene clearly belongs within the larger group of the Monkeys
and the Peddler imagery, the compositional arrangement might recall other
thematically similar motifs. A stalk of acanthus emerges from the sleeping
peddler to fill the space above, evoking such images of male generation as the
Tree of Jesse and, even more directly, the opening of the Roman de La rose.
Perhaps the single most popular non-devotional text of the late Middle Ages,
the Roman de La rose recounts a dream in which the narrator (called the Lover)
pursues the titular Rose, with whom he became infatuated when he saw her
reflected back at him in the pool of Narcissus. 35 The Rose is arguably at once a
separate being and a part of the Lover's own imagination, an ambiguous state
encapsulated by the many depictions of the poem's opening in which the nar-
rator is shown asleep in his bed, a rose vine sprouting from his side [Fig. 2.3].
Emerging like Eve from the side of Adam, the stylized roses simultaneously
represent both the beloved Rose and the poetic text of the Roman de la rose as
a whole.
The Monkey Cup's boughs are far more active than the static roses as their
simian inhabitants look into mirrors, dress up, clutch swords, and playa wide
range of musical instruments [Fig. 2.1]. While they may perhaps begin in the
mind of the ~leeping peddler, the monkeys' antics nevertheless take on a life
and independent creativity of their own. A similar ambiguity infects the four
monkeys who surround the peddler's body. Intent on robbing him in a man-
ner believed natural to apes, they nevertheless start on closer examination to FIGURE 2·3 Paris, The Lover dreaming,from Guillaume de Lorris andJean de Meun's Roman de
strangely resemble their human prey, sharing his broad white face and simple la rose (ea. 1335). Brussels, Bibliotheque royale MS 9576foL 1.
curling ears, long-palmed hands and, in the case of the monkey on the far left,
even his head of curly red hair. The boundary between reality and dream, man

35 Loms G. de - Meun J. de Le Roman de La rose, ed. A Strubel (Paris: 1992) llo-125 II

1423-1699-
58 NORMORI! rJ0NKEY IN THE MIDDLE 59

and monkey begins to unravel. he the monkeys humanlike makers of mUsic turn, fondle, and peer at the seductive object, they are confronted by the over-
and appearances, or are they merely made to appear human by the peddler's lap between the motions and sensations they experience and the very similar
imagination? VVhether real or dreamed, is their anthropomorphism amusing actions undertaken by the morally compromised monkeys that caress, display,
or threatening as it erodes the distinction between human and animal? and otherwise engage fashionable objects before their eyes. In handling the
These ambiguities are made ever more personal as the Monkey Cup not only Monkey Cup in the manner it seems to require, the viewer in effect mimics the
invites its viewer to witness the peddler's dream but simultaneously works to pawing of the (clearly law-breaking) pictured monkeys.
engage and challenge its user's mind and body. The detailed, densely arranged If filled with the wine normally served at Burgundian banquets, moreover,
figures of the small monkeys with their variety of poses and goods draw one the Monkey Cup's practical function as a serving vessel likewise tempts users to
in, inviting physical closeness but also encouraging the eye to flit from one personally inhabit theno-man's land between animal and human. In the wide-
figure to the next. The extended scene that covers the cup's glistening exterior spread Aristotelian etlUcal tradition, the allure of intemperance-defined as
requires the viewer to turn its smooth curved surface in order to be seen in full. over-indulgence in sensual pleasllIes- was epitomized by the connoisseur
The continually intertwined branches lead the gaze while the spacing of fig- who wished he had a neck like a crane's with which to enjoy the texture of
ures ensures that any single view includes a monkey partially obscured along wine, a bit of zoomorphic longing typical of the vice Aristotle claimed was
the rounded edge. Unlike the contemporary manuscript pages in the margins most likely to lower humans to the level ofbeasts.38 A tale current at the Valois
of which similar pairings of simians and foliage appear, the Monkey Cup has Burgundian court located a biblical reference for the zoomorphic properties of
no clear center, but rather invites an endlessly circular, wandering handling wine. According to the Ci nous dit, when inventing viniculture Noah watered
and viewing. his vines with the blood of five animals, each of which endowed it with a bes-
Just as the subject of monkeys was at times linked with the sin of curiositas, tial trait: monkeys, for instance, infected wine and wine drinkers with their
so too the design of the Monkey Cup corresponds closely with many of the devemess. 39 VVhile drinking itself is not pictured among the many monkey
qualities Christopher Wood has identified in 'curious' descriptive painting of pleasures on the cup, the addition of curling grape vine tendrils surrounding
this period: an unruly composition based in the multiplication of small units, the scene of the sleeping peddler on the exterior hints at the possible connec-
rich ornamentation, glistening surface, the proliferation of marginal details, tion between his apish imagination and the wine contained within [Fig. 2.2].
and a centrifugal motion. 36 The type of viewing reqUired by the Monkey Cup In addition to the possible connections between drunkenness and the
indeed closely aligns with that condemned as 'curious' by monastic authors, as assumption of simian characteristics, the real use of wine inside the Monkey
the mind 'vej:!rs hither and yon by the hour, and by the minute is prey to out- Cup hints at parallels between monkeys and courtiers. Much as the monkeys
side influenc~s and is endlessly the prisoner of what strikes it first'.37 Although steadily strip the sleeping peddler in order to reuse his goods, the drinker sip
stylistically 41stinct from the paintings of artists such as van Eyck on which by sip reveals the delicate interior decoration covered by the wine within
Wood focuses, the Monkey Cup's composition likewise draws attention to the [Fig. 24]. Drinking gradually uncovers the registers of imagery on the cup's
fact that it is an ornamented luxury object: more elegant than the peddler's interior, which unlike the exterior is arranged in regular circles that mimic the
goods depicted on it, like them the Monkey Cup calls out to the curious viewer water line of the filling liquid. First, rows of pointed trees much like those that
to be touched and explored, inviting both sensual pleasure and attention to its appear only at the ground level of the exterior to either side of the sleeping
status as a product of human hands. peddler come into view. As the wine level recedes ever further this conifer-
Late medieval condemnations of curiosity are largely mobilized against ous forest becomes the stalking ground of several monkeys armed with bows
its appearance in expressly devotional contexts: in court display, curiosity's and accompanied by specially-bred white hunting dogs, which chase a multi-
expense and refinement might be more positively valued as signs of wealth and pOinted stag, one of the most elite of all game animals. VVhile other species,
taste. Yet the Monkey Cup troubles any simple assimilation of curiosity to court- including monkeys, do indeed hunt in the wild, the civilized manner in which
liness. Even as viewers are encouraged by the dense ornament to repeatedly the pictured monkeys set about their task explicitly marks their hunt as an

Wood, "Curious Pictures' esp. 333-42. 38 Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics ofAristotle, trans. R. W. Browne (London: 1889) 82.
Carruthers, quoting the late antique monk Abba Moses (Craft 82). 39 Brussels, Bibliotheque royale MS g017 foJ. 105.
60 NORMORIl ~ OJ' KI!Y IN THE MIDDLE 61

coJIlPositional arrangements of the exterior and interior reward turning and

cIripking alike. On the other hand, the implicit invitation to laugh at the depic-
tions of monkeys doing human activities-many sinIilar to what the courtly
use! either does habitually (hunting) oris doing at the moment (play'ingwith
IUXUl)' goods)-troubles the humanity of engaging in such activi.ties. To han-
dle the Monkey Cup is to be very directly confronted with the paradoxical
requirements surrounding aesthetic appreciation and proper conduct in late
IIledieval courts, where both extreme asceticism and unchecked hedonism
were equally censured. Rather than providing a misleadingly simple answer to
these complex issues, the Monkey Cup instead articulates and stages them for
its audience, allOwing each individual to rise above the unreflective simian in
order to find his or her own thoughtful response.
In its mid-fifteenth-century form, the Monkey Cup thus foclised its users'
attention on the moral standing, indeed the humanity, of aesthetic pleasures
and connOisseurship practices that were integral to courtly display. The con-
tinued importance of apes in general and the Monkey Cup in particular as
tools for thinking about the processes of representation and reception are
underscored by the cup's alteration later in the Early Modern period. The cup's
interior bottom today is completely covered by a round gilded medallion in a
late-sixteenth-century Italianate style [Fig. 2.5]. On it, a tall, armor-clad and
magnificently helmeted woman holding a spear crowns a seated, nude man
FIGURE 2 -4 South Netherlandish, BeaJcer ("Monkey CUP! (ca. '425-50 with a laurel wreath. Marked not only by her martial clothing but also through
with additions). Silver, silver gilt, enameL overall the accompanying attribute of an owl, and what appears to be a loom frame
20 x 77.7 cm The Metropolitan Museum ofArt, The and compass to the left, ilie woman is almost certainly the goddess Athena/
Cloisters, '952 (52.20). Detail of interior. Image copyright
© The Metropolitan Museum ofArt Image source: Art
Minerva; her male companion's burning forge, hammer, and the coin he con-
Resource, NY. siders in his upraised hand suggest that he is HephaestusNulcan. While they
were never successful lovers, Athena and Hephaestus were frequently paired
in mythology as the goddess and god of the civilized arts.
anthropomo ~hic exercise in mock courtly behavior.4o In contrast to the lar- Although the pairing of these two gods makes intuitive sense, the precise
cenous monJq;f s on the exterior, which might arguably be classed with the mytholOgical source for ilie scene shown at the bottom of the Monkey Cup
peddler as sQclal inferiors, these hunting monkeys are expressly aristocratic, is obscure, suggesting iliat they appear primarily as personifications rather
a final and even more pointed reminder of the overlaps between courtier than characters. Minerva clearly celebrates Vulcan's skill specifically as god
and ape staged in the imagery and performance of the Monkey Cup enamels of fire and metalwork, as he not only sits on his active forge with hammer
as a whole. in hand but also holds up a round medallion, a mise-en-abyme reference to
The fifteenth-century enamels of the Monkey Cup present its holder the medallion on which ilie entire scene appears. The connection between
with conflicting messages. On the one hand, the elaborately detailed design the pictured medallion and Vulcan's supremacy is highlighted by its promi-
invites sensual enjoyment even as it encourages a wandering gaze: the varying nent placement in his raised hand along the line of Sight between god and
goddess and at the end of the strong diagonal of Minerva's arm, which termi-
40 On this motif as a critique of secular ritual in manuscript marginalia, see WIrth, Les nates in the upraised circle of the laurel wreath. The inscription underscores
margeSl81-97· - this relationship between victor's wreath and medal, reading 'artibus qui sita
62 'f,iONJ(!lY IN THE MIDDLE

Likely conceived without the Monkey Cup in mind, the medallion and its
classical figures nevertheless relate in interesting ways to their new setting.
Where the original curious composition might direct attention towards the
ingenuity of the Mo~ey.Cup'S d.esign, the ~edallion highlights the technical
eXPertise that went mto Its making: the p rmse of the fire god VulcaRapplies
equally to the glittering metal of the.medallion and the cool colors of the sur-
rounding enamels. both forged in flame despite their quite different appear-
ances. On a thematic level, the mischievous antics of the monkeys provide
a humorouS counterpart to the solemn celebration of skilled making on the
medallion. Where medieval commentators had seen parallels between too-
worldly humans and monkeys' imperfect imitative actions, the stylistic shift
towards naturalism in the sixteenth century led to the increaSing use of the
monkey as an alter ego for the visual artist. 42 The connection between Vulcan,
monkeys, and artistry received particular textual support from Giovanni
Boccaccio's popular De Geneologia Deorum, in which Boccaccio canonized a
late medieval belief that Vulcan was raised by monkeys after Jupiter threw him
FIG URE 2.5 South Netherlandish, Beaker ("Monkey Cup") from Olympus. 43 For Boccaccio, apes are appropriate caretakers for the child
(ea. 1425-50 with additions). Silver, silver gilt, Vulcan because of their natural desire to imitate: since Vulcan's fire is what
enamel, overa1l20 x 11.7 em. The Metropolitan enables craft, those who deSire to create must likewise nurture fire.
Museum ofArt, The Cloisters, 1952 (52.20).
Detail of interior base showing sixteenth-
The monkeys' mimicry of human activity on the Monkey Cup hovers uneas-
eentury medallion. Image copyright © The ily between providing a contrast to and a personification of the artistic prac-
Metropolitan Museum ofArt. Image source: tices that are literally deified in the medallion's highly mimetic representation.
Art Resource, NY. At the same time, something of the jocularity of the cup as a whole infects
even the serious medallion within. As the foster family for Vulcan and possible
allegories for artists, the larcenous monkeys cast some doubt on the probity
gloria', which might be translated, 'who has established the glory of the arts?' of both mankind and the god of fire, making a viewer wonder, who indeed are ~
The image seems uneqUivocally to answer, 'Vulcan', although Vulcan is evoked these founders of mimetic art's glory? Hidden until the cup was fully drained
here not in a devotional but a figurative sense. Literally cast in the classical and peered closely into, the densely packed composition itself might even turn
language of Renaissance art, personification here embodies abstract concepts teasing as the Originally laudatory inscription 'artibus qui sita gloria' could
in the figureR of pagan gods, allowing their aggreSSively mimetic human bod- more metaphorically be translated 'who has buried the glory of the arts'. Such
ies to expreSIi the elevation of artistic virtuosity. Indeed, a similar relief forms an allusion to the medallion's occluded placement beneath the capering mon-
the reverse of Antonio Abondio's medal for the architect and medalist Jacopo keys and wine at once refers to and seems to poke fun at the more negative
da Trezzo, in which the closely related inscription 'artibus quaesita gloria' readings of that frequent Early Modern art theoretical trope, ars simia naturae.
praises 'fame acquired through art' while Vulcan, hammer raised to represent Both in its original state and after the addition of the medallion within it,
Trezzo's sculptural skill, is surrounded by such signs of architectural practice the Monkey Cup involves the viewer in its mixture of anthropomorphosis,
as a compass and plumb-line in honor of Trezzo's achieved architectural feats imagination, and creativity. The outer scene of the Monkey and the Peddler
at the Escorial. 41
42 Janson, Apes and Ape Lore 287-325'
41 Reproduced in The Currency ofFame: Portrait Medals of the Renaissance, ed. Scher S. (New 43 Ibidem 29'-2. While Boccaccio's text was composed in the fifteenth-century, Janson
York: 1994) '70. I would like to thank Arne Flaten and Simon Scher for bringing this medal locates the shift towards identifying monkeys with artists as a largely sixteenth-century
to my attention. and discussing the Monkey Cup's alterations with me. development in Northern Europe.
NORMORJ;;
/dONKEY IN THE MIDDLE
65
sets its tale of simian larceny in an ambiguous realm between dream and real_
ity in which the monkeys' human desires may indeed be no more than the a1lthropomo~his~ and zoomorphism, the figure of the monkey reveals not
dream of the man they appear to attack. Just as these dream-like simians strip only the indeIJble lmk between these two states, but also the delights and ques-
tions to be found between them.
away the man's clothing in order to reveal his similarity to them, so too the
cup's potential drtnker-viewer may take on an apish wit from the wine while
being drawn ever further into the monkeys' activities in the external and inter_ Bibliography
nal decoration.With the later addition of the Minerva and Vulcan medallion at
its center, the Monkey Cup acquired a new range of potential meanings as the
Augustine, The De Natura bani of Saint Augustine, trans. A. Moon (Washington D.C.:
personification of concepts through the Greco-Roman pantheon was juxta-
1955)·
posed with the anthropomorphosis of animals. Combining the solemn praise
Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics ofAristotle, trans. R. W Browne (London: 9):
of high art with the inversions of monkeys as connoisseurs and anti-models, 188
Bakhtin M., Rabelais and His World, trans. H. Iswo}sky (Bloomington: 19 4).
the Monkey Cup prompts questions rather than providing answers, inviting its 8
Baumstark R. (ed.), Schatzkammerstii.cke aus der Herbstzeit des Mittelalters: Das
users to investigate the porous boundaries between human and simian in the
Regensburger Email Kiistchen und sein Umkreis (Munich: 1992 ).
evolving discourses of late medieval and Early Modem visual art.
Bough]., "The Mirror Has Two Faces: Contradictory Refle~tions of Donkeys in Western
Literature from Lucius to Balthazar'~ Animals 1, 1 (20ll) 56-68.
BI1lssels, Bibliotheque royale M s 9 017.
The Monkey in the Middle
Camille M., The MedievalArt ofLove: Subjects and Objects ofDesire (New York: 199 ).
8
Carruthers M., The Craft of Thought (Chicago: 1998).
Seen in conjunction, the Monkey Cup and entremets for the marriage of
Crist E., Images ofAnimals: Anthropomorphism and AnimalMind (Philadelphia: 1999).
Margaret of York and Charles the Bold show something of the range of func-
Evans E. P., The Cnmmal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals (New York:
tions that anthropomorphosis could perform as a source of amusement, polit- 1906).
ical propaganda, and especially the thought-provoking enjoyment of artistic
Freedman P., "The Representation of Medieval Peasants as Bestial and as Human",
skillin both, the figure of the monkey is repeatedly read in human terms not
in Creager A. N. H. - Jordan W C. (eds.), The Animal/Human Boundary: Historical
to make sense of actual simian behavior but rather to understand the imitative Perspectives (Rochester: 2002) 29-49.
impulses of mankind. Precisely because real monkeys might mimic human
Froissart]., The Chronicles ofFro issart, ed. G. C. Macaulay - trans.]. Bourchier (London:
actions, tlul image of the monkey served as a useful figure for thinking about 1924).
th~ fragile ·~prder separating the projection of hw:nan qualiti~ onto animals H~burger J., "Idol Curiosity" in Kriiger K. (ed.) Curiositas: WeLterjahrung und iisthe-
and the prDJection of animal qualities onto humamty. Late medieval and Early
ttsche Neugierde in Mittelalter undfriiher Neuzeit (G6ttingen: 2002) 21-57.
Modem aijdiences might locate the distinction between hum~. and o~er
Hardwick P., "The Merchant, the Monkeys, and the Lure of Money~ Reinardus 19 (2006)
species in pumanrationality, beauty, and proper deportment, yet It IS precisely 83-go.
these arenAS which the entremet of the Monkeys and the Peddler and ~e Heller S.-G., Fashion in medieval France (Cambridge: 200 7).
Monkey Cup populate with simian doubles. 44 In each case, viewers are explic-
Isidore of Seville, Etymologies ofIsidore ofSeville, ed. S. Barney et al. (Cambridge: 2002).
itly implicated in the unstable alternation between man arid ape: ~erf~rmance
Janson H. W, Apes and Ape Lore in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (London: 195 ).
arid cup alike employ humor and beauty to invite pleasure, p~l~patiOn, an! 2
Laborde L.:,Les Ducs de Bourgogne, etudes sur Les Lettres, Les arts, et l'indiustrie pendant
reflection on both artistry arid its appreciation. Endlessly oscillating betwee e
ieXV steele, 3 vols. (Pans; 1807-1869).
LOrris G. de - Meun]. de, Le Roman de la rose, ed. Strubel A (Paris: 1992).
Marche O. de la, Memoires d'Olivier de la Marche, eds. H. Beaune _ ]. dillbaumont
4 vols. (Paris: 1883-1888). '
44 · arum
Apes of course remain centra! to debates surroun dmg . a! reasonmg
. t 0 day:. for the Poerck G d "M H··'
. e, armouset IstOIre d un mot'; Revue belge de phi{o{ogie et d'histoire 37
pre-modem discussion see Janson, Apes andApe Lore 75-89. 3 (1959) 615- 644. '
NORMORll
66
CHAPTER 3
. h' A' ls' the Middle Ages, second edition (New York:
Salisbury J., The Beast WIt m: ntma m

2011). ifF< . Portrait Medals of the Renaissance (New York; Landscape and Body in Rabelais's Gargantua
Scher S. (ed.), The Currency 0 ame.
1994).
and Pantagruel
~ore~szn~, ~:r:i~~:~~So~~:::~~~es and Its Illustrators: Historicity ~d Ficticity in the Paul] Smith
toc . , . f Ch 1 VI's Bal des Ardents", Studies m Iconography
Verbal and Visualirnaglllg 0 ar es
21 (2000) 123-180. )
Vaughan R Charles the Bold (London: 1973; reprint ed., New York: 200.2ft· th C One of the major comical devices of the five novels by Fran~ois Rabelais on
., N rth d South in the FI een entury
"Artistic Exchanges between 0 an the giants Gargantua and Pantagruel lies in the author's continuous reversal
Warburg A.., R I if Pagan Antiquity: Contributions to the
". F t r K (ed) The enewa 0 of traditional literary themes and conventions. This also applies to the age-old
(19 05) III ors e . ., . D Britt (Los Arlgeles: 1999)
Cultural History of the European Renaissance, trans. . anthropomorphisation of space, according to which, for instance, a landscape is
275-
280
. 1 'Sl . g Peddler: Arl Exegetical and Arlthropo- represented as a human body. .Rabelais gives a strai~tforward example of this
Weernans M., "Herri met de Bess eeplll siInlle between.landscape and body in a brief description of a barren landscape,
ic Landscape" Art Bulletin 88, 3 (2006) 459-481. 8 where the naked rocks are the body's bones: 'la terre est si maigre que les os (ce
rna rph ' . h' - 35 (Geneva: 200 ).
, d 61eries des manuscrLts got iques, 1250 1 0
WirthJ., Les marges a . r , d th rt of description", Word & Image n, 4 (1992) sontroc;s) luypersentla peau: areneuse, sterile, mal saine, et mal plaisante'.l Tills is
Wood C., "'Curious pIctures an e a only one of the nwnerous examples of Rabelais's preoccupation with the relation-
2
33 -5 .
2
th P ddl "The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 44,1
ship between space and body. In order to analyse Rabe!ais's cOmlcal, often alien-
Young B., "The Monkeys & e e er , .ating use of this traditional simile, it is important to come to a working typology
(1986) 441-454. of the different ways this theme manifests itself in French Renaissance literature.

Towards a Typology of Space-Body Relations in Renaissance

Literature

In Renaissance literature the anthropomorphisatioD of space in its diverse

dimensions and perspectives-from the small-scale, visible, and physical land-
scape to the larger-scale and much more abstract spatial fOnTIs, such as they
are seen from the standpoints of chorography, topography, cosmography, and
cosrnology-often adopts the form of a trope, more speci£cally a comparison
(Simile) or a metaphor.2 Early modem French poetry gives some wel1-k.J.1o'wn

I Rabelals F., CEI.CYI'eS completes, ed. M. Huchon (Paris; 1994) 748.

2 This article ",ill not problematise the concepts of comparison (or simile) and metaphor.
1adopt the working definltioQof both cOnCepts as fonnulated in Shaw M. L., The Cambridge
Illtrodu.ctlon to FrenckPoctry (Cambridge: 2003) 76: More ambiguous than the simile [or com-
parison j. which explicitly designates a similarity between two tenns ["through an explicit
tl!rm such as 'lIke' or 'as' (in French, 'comme', 'pareil a't'; see ibidem 2U j, metaphor makes an
lm.plJCil comparison; Jt either associates a figurative word with a literal one on the basis of
~blahce, orsubscttute. th .. f",-rno. f~ ••'-- L . . ,.r --