Francis Barlow, Fable 44 : 45 from Aesopics, or, A Second Collection of Fables. 1668, etching, 25.8 x 18.9 cm. British Museum, London.

Beasts, Brutes, and the Blurry Boundary Between Them: The Power of the Aesopian Fable in Seventeenth Century Early Modern England

• Richard Chapplow, University of British Columbia

Seventeenth century Europe saw a shift to the practice of direct observation of the world as opposed to the reliance on ancient texts. Of great concern for many philosophers, scientists, and theologians was the relationship between humans and non-human animals. René Descartes strengthened that divide in 1637 by stating that only humans were capable of reason and language through their God-given “rational soul” which animals lacked, making animals mere biological automata. The refutations of Descartes were seen in many forms, but it was within English printing, specifically John Ogilby’s editions of the Fables of Aesop that we were presented with rather striking examples. For it was within his printings of Aesop, that Ogilby directly questioned the relationship of humans with animals through the text of his frontispieces, but also shifted the fables’ accompanying illustrations to speak to the blurry, slippery boundary between human and animal.

Although modern versions of Aesopian fables tend to be populated with anthropomorphized animals, this was not the case in the past. Even though the animals in the fables could speak quite eloquently, they were typically shown as they would be seen in nature. Ogilby, with natural history artists such as Francis Cleyn, Wenceslaus Hollar, and Francis Barlow, shifted the animal forms to a hybrid state with animals walking upright and wearing human clothing. It was through the entertaining power of the fable and allegory that Ogilby was able to make rather pointed critiques of the scientific, philosophical, and theological thinking of the time.

keywords: print media, fable, allegory, hybridity, empiricism

Lilian Lancaster (Tennant), "England," 1868, in Geographical Fun! Being Humourous Outlines of Various Countries by Aleph (William Harvey) (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1868). Map on paper, 28 cm x 23 cm, Stanford: David Rumsey Map Collection.

Anthropomorphic Maps from 19^th Century England: Spatiotemporal Narratives of National Identity

• Kristina Parzen, Concordia University

Maps are both spatial and temporal objects. Their relation to space is readily apparent but time is often overlooked by both mapmakers and viewers. Most maps tend towards representing monochronous time or one temporality (Ferdinand 2019, 69). Other maps represent space that altogether avoid time. Such methods of representation are criticized by map historians as creating a false impression of an eternal present (Harrower 2015, 1528; Muehrcke 1998, 160–78). However, there are some maps that identify the geographic present by referencing the historic and even, the mythical past. In nineteenth-century England, a striking type of fantastical map became popular: one which combined, and sometimes even conflated, human forms with cartographic representations of territory. England, for example, took the form of Britannia, seated on an “Island throne;” Italy was represented as Victor Emmanuel II, King of the united country; and Germany took the image of the Pied Piper from Germanic folklore. These anthropomorphic maps, which have their own rich history dating back to the 14th century, represent a fascinating interplay between how narratives of the past shape contemporary national identity bound to geographic space. Focusing on the work of English artist Lilian Lancaster (later Tennant) who produced a diverse collection of such maps, this paper examines the relationship between the spatial representation of the historic and mythical past and their role in constructing national identity. It asks how Lancaster mobilized caricature and allegory as visual narrative devices to tell stories of identity. And it explores how her simultaneous referencing of the historical past, the mythical past, and the geographic present, constructed an English view of national types in Europe. Ultimately, I argue that despite being static objects with fixed representations, Lancaster’s anthropomorphic maps are also active tellings of national identity grounded in space and time.

keywords: anthropomorphic maps, allegory, caricature, national identity, spatiotemporal narratives

Antonio Tempesta, Age of Iron, etching, 1599, 22.1 x 33.7 cm, British Museum

Jan Sadeler after Marten de Vos, Jubal and his Musical Instruments, Engraving, 1583, 20.2 x 25.0 cm, British Museum

Time Made Material: Artifactuality in Early Modern Allegorical Prints

• Timothy McCall, University of British Columbia

Printed series like The Ages of Man illustrate classical poems concerning the history of humanity. Based on the works of Hesiod and Ovid, these images envision humanity in degradation. An ancient golden age is free of trouble or toil. The most recent iron age, which Hesiod and Ovid claimed they lived in, is defined by violence and terror. In Antonio Tempesta’s series The Four Ages of the World (1599), anachronistic iron age belligerents wear courtly fashions and tote firearms. Episodes from the deep biblical past too were reanimated as contemporary scenes, such as Johann Sadeler’s Boni et Mali Scientia (1583). Here, technological innovation is considered in a favorable light compared to the social degradation thematized in The Four Ages of Man. In prints such as these, artists developed the signs and symbols of technological progress, producing a notion of archaeological artifacts leading to modern sophistication. Time, rendered through artifacts, is objectified. Although the discourse of materialized history was developed in illustrations of myths, these temporal resources were fundamental to liberal and modern concepts of history: the bronze and iron age still constitute the epochs of human history.

Comparison to paintings of the same scenes shows far fewer intrusions of the present into ancient stories suggesting that painting conforms to text while prints follow a different procedure to confirm their veracity. Printed images gain their authority from an appeal to eye-witnessing. Thus, they are not typological renditions of texts but rather a visible and self-apparent conformity with the reality, present and local, of its buyer. This paper offers a critical account of the complex relationships between image, medium, and time staged by early modern anachronistic prints.

keywords: allegory, temporality, early modern, print, anachronism