PhD student Eva Janssens will give a short paper presentation at the Twelfth Annual REFORC Conference on Early Modern Christianity. The conference is hosted by KU Leuven and organized by The Reformation Research Consortium (REFORC), an international association of universities and research institutions which encourages interdisciplinary research on Early Modern Christianity between ca. 1400 and ca. 1700.
The Church Upside Down as Depicted in a Protestant Illustrated Broadsheet by Robert De Baudous and Paulus De Kempenaer focuses on a Protestant illustrated broadsheet (1605) by Robert De Baudous and Paulus De Kempenaer.
Abstract of the contribution
In Reformation propaganda the usage of satire became an indispensable weapon with which to ridicule the Roman Catholic Church. Not only did it contribute to shaping Protestant ideology, it also affected the religion’s imagery. This is evidenced by an intriguing, largely neglected illustrated broadsheet of 1605 by the Brussels-born engraver Robert de Baudous (c.1574/75–1659). Accompanied by a long-lost poem by the Dutch Protestant theologian and emblematist Paulus De Kempenaer (c. 1554–1618?), the print displays an excessive caricature of controversial Catholic abuses. Its large dimensions of 41,5 × 144,5 cm are rarely equaled in Netherlandish imagery.
The object of this paper is to examine how this particular broadsheet orchestrates satire on an iconographic and textual level. In so doing, the image will be linked with a repertoire of reoccurring ideas and motifs supporting the anti-Catholic polemic in prints, pamphlets and literature. A prominent concept which will be explored is the subject of the world turned upside down. As a beloved theme in the popular culture of early modern Europe, it will shed light upon the manner in which this remarkable illustrated broadsheet was understood by its contemporaries.
Place
The event takes place from May 11-13, 2023, in Leuven, Belgium.
More information on the full program and registrations, here.