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| Monkeys Drinking & Smoking by David Teniers the Younger |
Reading a little about 15th century Flemish painter, David Teniers the Younger
(15 December 1610-
25 April 1690) I came across the word 'singerie'. Had to look it up.
From
https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-singerie-monkeys-acting-as-humans-in-art/
There is an excellent selection of large format images of relevant paintings at this link too.
Singerie — from the French for “Monkey Trick” — is a genre of art in which monkeys are depicted apeing human behaviour. Although the practise can be traced as far back as Ancient Egypt, it wasn’t until the 16th century that the idea really took off and emerged as a distinct genre. Some of its most famous champions include the Flemish engraver Pieter van der Borcht (whose 1575 series of singerie prints were widely disseminated), Jan Brueghel the Elder, and the the two Teniers brothers, David Teniers the Younger and his younger brother Abraham Teniers. Into the 18th century the genre saw great popularity in France, particularly in the guise of the “singe peintre” (monkey painter), which offered up a perfect parody of the art world’s pomposity. With monkeys, along with apes, being our closest cognates in the animal world, they proved the perfect medium for the satirising of society, which so often thinks itself “above” the animal kingdom. Singeries have proved popular all the way into the 21st century, notably in the fantastic work of the American artist Walton Ford.
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| Monkeys in a Tavern by David Teniers the Younger |
Walton Ford, mentioned in the clip above is featured in this brief video:
2 comments:
Interesting term. Though I'm not a fan of the anthropomorphism of animals by any means. In fact it disturbs me greatly when I see friends dress dogs up in dresses and Santa outfits and antlers. I find it quite sad and to me the animals look uncomfortable and faintly ridiculous and embarrassed. But that's just me.
But goodonya for digging this one up :)
XO
WWW
Wisewebwoman ~ I too dislike the pet dress-up habit that some see as good fun, WWW.
Singierie appears to be purely satirical, rather than a distant echo of the "tweeness" of dressing up one's pet nowadays. The author of one article I read, on singerie, decided that much of the genre's satire (in its time) was in relation to different types of addiction: tobacco, alcohol, gambling.
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