The place of mirrors in the domestic culture of sixteenth-century Bruges
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22124751 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julie De Groot (0000-0002-7299-8733, University of Antwerp, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 113-132 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of Retailing and Consumption (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2373-5171 • E-ISSN: 2373-518X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/2373518x.2024.2374697 |
| OpenAlex | W4400970017 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 12 |
The sixteenth century saw an exponential increase in the number and the diversity of objects people surrounded themselves with. Some objects have already been widely discussed, while others, like mirrors, remain hidden from scholarly view. The mirror was widely popular in the more wealthy households of cities like Bruges, but it was also frequently discussed and used in moralistic writings and paintings as a metaphor for a wide range of very different symbolic meanings. According to literature, however, a transition took place during this period from the mirror being a tool for contemplation and private devotion, to the mirror being used as a luxury item. Moreover, the literature argues, this transition also reflected a large-scale social and cultural change towards secularisation, humanism and emerging subjectivity. In this article, however, I argue that, especially in the Bruges context, reality - as is often the case – was much more layered than that. Indeed, their increasing popularity in the sixteenth century should be explained both by a changing consumer culture, and by the mirror's continued connection with spirituality and private devotion. The resulting new insights are of great importance for our understanding of early modern daily life and material culture
Aesthetics · Art · Contemplation · Epistemology · Humanism · Metaphor · Multitude · Political science · Popularity · Secularization · Sociology · Spirituality · Subjectivity · Financial Crisis of the 21st Century · Historical Art and Culture Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law · Philosophy
In ‘splendid isolation'. A comparative perspective on the historiographies of the ‘material renaissance' and the ‘consumer revolution'
Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy
The Scholar in his Study. Ownership and experience in Renaissance Italy
Mirror Mirror
The Technology of Reflection
Sacred to secular, east to west
Viewing the World
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |