Celebrations at Court
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- ISBN 9788772196732
- Dimensions: 127 x 279mm
- Publication Date: 28 Jul 2026
- Publisher: Aarhus University Press
- Publication City/Country: DK
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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A rich and immersive insight into the spectacular courtly festival culture of 16th and 17th century Europe
Court celebrations constituted elaborate and flamboyant spectacles intended to showcase cultural sophistication, military power and technical expertise. Through carefully staged displays of marvel, feast and horror, they were performative articulations of power. By reiterating local traditions, such events reinforced and consolidated local belonging. Addressed both to rival rulers and to society at large, these celebrations functioned as strategic demonstrations of dynastic legitimacy and national abundance — economically, intellectually, and in terms of artisanal production.
Through thirteen richly illustrated chapters, this book maps key historical celebrations and the political circumstances surrounding them, while drawing on a diverse range of written sources—from pyrotechnics manuals to cookery books—to emphasize the material culture and technological foundations behind these celebrations. Celebrations at Court situates local European material culture within broader, transcultural contexts and offers new insights into the history of ideas and mentalities of the period.
Distributed for Aarhus University Press
Anne Haack Christensen is a PhD and painting conservator at the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK), with expertise in early modern art production. Maria Fabricius Hansen is Professor of Art History at the University of Copenhagen and author of the award-winning The Art of Transformation (2018). Lisbet Tarp is Associate Professor of Art History at Aarhus University, specializing in early modern Europe. Jesper Svenningsen is Senior Researcher at the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK), focusing on Danish collecting culture and the art market. With contributions from Mara R. Wade, Inmaculada Rodriguez Moya and Victor Minguez Cornelles, Konrad Krčal, Pamela H. Smith, Tianna Helena Uchacz, Sophie Pitman, Tillmann Taape and Colin Debuiche, Simon Werrett, Tamar Cholcman, Cristiano Zanetti, F. M. Gage, Marie-Claude Canova-Green, Deborah L. Krohn, Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly, Anders Kirk Borggaard, Elaine Tierney.
