Texte et images dans La (Grant) Nef des folles : de la « nef latine » à la « nef divine »

Abstract

Written by Sebastian Brant and illustrated by Albrecht Dürer and his staff, the Narrenschiff ([The Ship of Fools], Basel, 1494) is a satirical work that enjoyed un unrivaled popularity in late-15th century and early-16th century Germany thanks to the improvement of printing techniques, including the development of more flexible links between the textual and visual media. Among the numerous adaptations of the Narrenschiff, the Stultiferae naves ([The Ships of Foolish Maidens] Paris, 1501) by the humanist Jodocus Badius Ascensius raises interest not only by providing an original interpretation of the theme of folly through the personification of the five senses as “foolish ships”. This work also stands out in the history of the book by a series of woodcuts representing vices attributed traditionally to women, well suited to making explicit the allegorical meanings of the text. However, a more heterogenous visual program underlies the translation into French of the Naves, which was carried out by Jean Drouyn under the title, The Ship of Foolish Maidens. While in the first edition published in Paris (ca 1498), the original woodcuts were reused freely along with several engravings taken from other sources, the Lyons editions (ca 1510) was based on a simplified, repetitive, and polysemous iconographic system that further weakened the referential function of the illustrations. The shifting relationships that developed between texts and images within the “ships” corpus are emblematic of the new methods of production, dissemination, and manipulation of knowledge made possible by the progress of the printing press.