Renaissance Homer and Wedding Chests: The Odyssey at the Crossroads of Humanist Learning, the Visual Vernacular, and the Socialization of Bodies. (20th November 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zerba, Michelle
• Is Part Of: Renaissance Quarterly. Volume 70:Number 3(2017)
• Page Start: 831
• Page End: 861
• Publication Date: 2017-11-20
• Subjects: European literature -- Renaissance, 1450-1600 -- Periodicals; Renaissance -- Periodicals; 809.31
• DOI: 10.1086/693882
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0034-4338

Abstract

Abstract: Broadening the interdisciplinary base of study on Renaissance Homer, this essay looks to cassone (wedding chest) painting in the Quattrocento to explore how the textual reception of the "Odyssey" was enriched by the visual arts. As artifacts, wedding chests had a role in the public sphere, though they were destined for the private, and they made the epic available to audiences of nonelites. Nausicaa is a key figure, merging the vernacular courtly love tradition and romance. In working across the fields of literary study and art history, this essay introduces new critical concepts to account for the complexities of Renaissance reception of Homer.