every day i read sentences etc
@littlequeenofthemangoes
Definitely true at least in the medieval N-Town plays. There were so many jokes about Joseph being old and a cuckold. I canât speak to art history tho so someone else will have to weigh in there
Historian of late medieval art here: there is another interpretation of the MĂ©rode Altarpiece that I have seen more often than this sexual analysis though. Joseph is creating a mousetrap, which st Augustine uses three times in his Sermons as a metaphor for the role Jesus will play once he is born: he will trap and defeat Satan just like a man traps a mouse. This analysis was brought by Meyer Schapiro and Erwin Panofsky in particular, and led later to an over-analysis and over-interpretation of these huge Altarpieces and more broadly of all the works of this group of painters we traditionally called "Flemish Primitives".
So... yeah for the "funny" interpretation and maybe Campin had it in mind whilst painting it but there are more interesting things to read in this painting :)
