Overview

Caterpillage is a study of seventeenth-century Dutch still life painting. It develops an interpretive approach based on the author's previous studies of portraiture, and its goal is to offer its readers a new way to think and talk about the genre of still life. The book begins with a critique of iconographic discourse and particularly of iconography's treatment of vanitas symbolism. It goes on to argue that this treatment tends to divert attention from still life's darker meanings and from the true character of its traffic with death. Interpretations of still life that focus on the vanity of human experience and the mutability of life minimize the impact made by the representation of such voracious pillagers of plant life as insects, snails, and caterpillars. The message sent by still life's preoccupation with these small-scale predators is not merely vanitas. It is rapacitas. Caterpillage also explores the impact of this message on the meaning of the genre's French name. We use the conventional term nature morte (""dead nature"") without giving any thought to how misleading it is. Because so many portrayals of still life involve cut flowers, which, although still in bloom, are dying, it would be more accurate to name the genre nature mourant. The subjects of still life are plants that are still living, plants that are dying but not yet dead.

Full Product Details

Author:   Harry Berger ,  Harry Berger, JR.
Publisher:   Fordham University Press
Imprint:   Fordham University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.375kg
ISBN:  

9780823233137

ISBN 10:   0823233138
Pages:   140
Publication Date:   01 March 2011
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Adult education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Further / Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Reviews

<br>Berger opens up a traditional field to critical invigoration and new interpretation. The result is liberating.-Peter Erickson<p><br>

Berger opens up a traditional field to critical invigoration and new interpretation. The result is liberating.-Peter Erickson

Berger opens up a traditional field to critical invigoration and new interpretation. The result is liberating. - Peter Erickson, Williams College

Author Information

Harry Berger, Jr., is Professor Emeritus of Literature and Art History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His most recent books include Figures of a Changing World: Metaphor and the Emergence of Modern Culture and A Fury in the Words: Love and Embarrassment in Shakespeare’s Venice (both Fordham).

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