A Cultural History of

Gesture
From Antiquity to the Present Day

with an introduction by Sir Keith Thomas

EDITED BY JAN BREMMER AND
HERMAN ROODENBURG

Polity Press
 Copyright @ this edition Polity Press 1991;
Introduction, Keith Thomas 1991; Chapter 1, Jan Bremmer 1991; Chapter 2, Fritz Graf 1991;
Chapter 3, Jean-Claude Schmitt 1991; Chapter 4, Peter Burke 1991; Chapter 5, Joaneath Spicer
1991; Chapter 6, Robert Muchembled 1991; Chapter 7, Herman Roodenburg 1991; Chapter 8,
Maria Bogucka 1991; Chapter 9, \Villem Frijhoff 1991; Chapter 10. Henk Driessen 1991; Select
bibliography, Jan Bremmer and Herman Roodenburg 1991

First published in 1991 by Polity Press

in association with Blackwell Publishers

First puhlished in paperback 199 3

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ISBN 0-74564786-1
ISBN 0-7456-1101-X (pbk)

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 Contents

List of illustrations v11

Notes on contributors lX

...
Preface Xlll

Introduction 1
K EITH T HOMAS

1 Walking, standing, and sitting in ancient Greek culture

JAN B RE M MER
2 Gestures and conventions: the gestures of Roman actors
and orators
FRITZ GRAF
3 The rationale of gestures in the West: third to thirteenth
- centuries

-. J EAN -C LAUDE SCHMITT

4 %Thelanguage of gesture in early modern Italy
PETERBURKE
5 The Renaissance elbow
JOANEATH SPICER
VI Contents
6 The order of gestures: a social history of sensibilities
under the Ancien Regime in France
R OBERT M UCHEMBLED
7 The 'hand of friendship': shaking hands and other
gestures in the Dutch Republic
H ERMAN R OODENBURG
8 Gesture, ritual, and social order in sixteenth- to
eightcenth-century Poland
MARIAB OGUCKA
9 The kiss sacred and profane: reflections on a cross-
cultural confrontation
WILLEMF RI J HOFF
10 Gestured masculinity: body and sociability in rural
Andalusia
H ENK DRIESSEN

Gestures in history: a select bibliogra p hy

J AN B REMMER and H ERMAN R OODENBURG

Index of names

Index of subjects
 Illustrations

5.1 Pieter Gartner (attr.), Calvary 1537

5.2 Albrecht Durer, Self-Portrait, 1498
5.3 Albrecht Durer, Paumgartner Altarpiece, c.1498 and
c. 1502
5.4 Hans Sebald Beham, Standard-bearer, c.1526, engraving
5.5 Jacopo Carucci, called Pontormo, D u k e Cosimo I de'
Medici as a Halberdier, c.1537
5.6 Evert van der Maes, Standard-bearer, 161 7
5.7 Frans Hals, Smiling Cavalier, 1624
5.8 Samuel van Hoogstraten, Mattheus v a n den Broucke,
Governor of the East Indies
5.9 Rembrandt van Rijn, Nightmatch or Militia Company of
Captain Frans Banning Cocq, 1642
5.10 Pieter Isaacsz., Officers of the Amsterdam Company of
Captain Jacob Gerritsz Hoing, 1596
5.1 1 Frans Hals, Officers of the St George Company,
Haarlem, 1616
5.12 Press photograph o f the Sha N a N a (source u n k n o w n )
5.13 Ferdinand Bol, Regents of the Nieuwezijds
Huiszittenhuis, Amsterdam, 1657
5.14 Raphael Sanzio, Angelo and Magdalena Doni, c. 1505
 ...
v111 List of illustrations
5.15 Northern Netherlands painter, Family Grordp, 1559
5.1 6 Frans Hals, Unident8ed Husband and W f e , c. 1650
5.17 Jan Brueghel and Frans Francken I1 (attr.), T h e
Archduke Albert and Arcl7duchess Isabella Visiting a
Collector's Cabinet, c. 1620
5.1 8 Jan C . Woudanus (after),Leiden University Libra y ,
1610, cngraved b y W . Swanenburgh
5.19 Gabriel Metsu, Family of Bt4rgomaster D r Gillis
Valkenier, c. 1657
5.20 Michelangelo Mierisi da Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus,
c. 1600
6.1 Pieter Brueghel (after),T h e Ass at Scl~ool,1557,
engraving
Pieter Brueghel (after),T h e Pedlar Pillaged 173, the Apes,
1562, engraving
Jacob Jordaens, Feast of the Epiphany, 1640
Jan Steen, Beware of Luxury, 1663Z
Gerard Terborch, T h e Suitor's Visit, c.1658
Frans Hals, Willem v a n Heijthuysen, c. 1637-9
Rembrandt van Rijn, T h e Syndics of the Amsterdam
Drapers' Guild, 1661
Rembrandt van Rijn, T h e Anatomy Lesson of D r
Nicolaes Tulp, 1632
Hendrick Avercamp, Skating Scene near a T o w n
Resembling Kampen and Utrecl?t, c. 161 0
Bartholomeus van der Helst, T h e Celebration of the
Peace of ll4unster, 18 June 1648, in the Headquarters of
the Crossbowmen's Civic Guard (St George's Guard),
Amsterdam, (detail, 1648)
Tinos (Greece). Photogra p h by Marrie Bot, 1980
Gerrit Pietersz de Jongh, T h e Chapel of O u r Lady at
Run.putte, Oesdom, near Heiloo, 1630