Local and non-local in Jacopo Bassano's depictions of peasants

Nichols, T. (2023) Local and non-local in Jacopo Bassano's depictions of peasants. Artibus et Historiae, 87(XLIV), pp. 75-101.

Abstract

Jacopo Bassano’s depictions of peasants were not made for peasant eyes, but nonetheless offer to redeem their culturally low subjects. Rather than understanding Bassano’s imagery of this kind as a product of his essential localness, it is argued in this article that his turn to the rural world of the immediate area in which he worked reflects Bassano’s wider connection to the increasingly cosmopolitan and non-local world of European culture in his period. Close examination of a small number of key Bassano paintings featuring peasants throws new light on his way of accommodating non-peasant values (aesthetic but also economic and religious) into peasant imagery that was quickly exported to locations and viewing audiences far beyond the small rural town of Bassano del Grappa where they were produced.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Nichols, Dr Tom
• Authors: Nichols, T.
• Subjects: N Fine Arts > ND Painting
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art
• Journal Name: Artibus et Historiae
• Publisher: Institute for Art Historical Research, Cracow
• ISSN: 0391-9064

Related URLs

• University of Glasgow Library Catalogue