Meifeest op een dorpsplein 1535 - 1604

Étienne Dupérac made this etching, "May Festival in a Village Square," around the late 16th century. It pictures a town enjoying a May Day celebration, a festival associated with the arrival of spring and fertility. The image creates meaning through its depiction of communal festivity. The maypole in the center of the village square is a key visual code, signalling renewal. Dupérac, a French artist working in Italy, may have been commenting on the social structures of his time by idealizing a rural communal scene. Was this made in response to the centralization of power in European states? To better understand this, we might research popular festivals in 16th-century Europe or look at the rise of civic humanism and its relationship to folk traditions. The meaning of art is always contingent on such contexts.