From Low Life to High Art: The Emergence of Secular Realism in Sixteenth-Century Antwerp

Mgr. Ramón Durman

Diplomová práce

Abstract:

This thesis examines how sixteenth-century Antwerp witnessed a radical reorganisation of priorities in Western art, as the lives of peasants, city dwellers, and other ordinary folk became focal subjects worthy of artistic attention. While scholars have long interpreted nascent Netherlandish genre painting as cautionary “low-life” scenes for urban elites or moral exemplars, such perspectives fail to capture their deeper cultural significance. This study argues that the emergence of secular realism resulted from four interconnected forces that converged uniquely in Antwerp: the city’s economic ascendancy and new patterns of art patronage; religious upheaval brought about by the Protestant Reformation, which necessitated new approaches to artistic expression; the effects of the 1525 German Peasants’ War, which revealed the peasantry as a formidable social force; and the role of printmaking in accelerating the spread of new ideas and normalising secular subject matter. By analysing how these forces operated as a system of mutual reinforcement, this thesis demonstrates that sixteenth-century secular realism evolved as a sophisticated response to profound social, economic, and religious changes. Antwerp emerged as the critical milieu where these intersecting currents reshaped Northern European art and influenced artistic movements well into the modern era.

Keywords

Antwerp, Realism, Secular painting, Northern Renaissance, 16th century

Jazyk práce: angličtina

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 5. 8. 2025

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Obhajoba proběhla 3. 9. 2025
• Vedoucí: prof. Mgr. Ondřej Jakubec, Ph.D.
• Oponent: doc. Mgr. Radka Nokkala Miltová, Ph.D.

Masarykova univerzita

Filozofická fakulta

Magisterský studijní program / obor:
Visual Cultures and Art History / Visual Cultures and Art History