Fair Scenes in the Netherlandish Painting of the 16th Century: Iconography, Meaning and Possible Audience

In the 1520s, the first independent images with peasant fair scenes began to appear in Northern visual art. Works created by masters of the German and the Netherlandish schools depict multi-figure compositions interpreting various peasant festivities and holidays, primarily kermis and weddings. The main feature of such works becomes the caricatured, satirical depiction of peasants, whose interpretation carries a moralizing, educational character. During the research, it seems important to trace the iconography of fair scenes to identify similarities and distinctive features in the development of the narrative throughout the 16th century, as well as to observe how the potential audience could interact with the works. Using iconographic, iconological methods, comparative analysis, and the method of social history, this study attempts to establish the meaning of peasant fair scenes within ancient, contemporary cultural and social concepts and to affirm an iconographic model of their interpretation.