Subtle Bodies
Representing Angels in Byzantium
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 14. February 2001
Book
Hardback
250 pages
978-0-520-22405-6 (ISBN)
Description
Throughout the course of Byzantine history, Christian doctrine taught that angels have a powerful place in cosmology. It also taught that angels were immaterial, bodiless, invisible beings. But if that were the case, how could they be visualized and depicted in icons and other works of art? This book describes the strategies used by Byzantine artists to represent the incorporeal forms of angels and the rationalizations in defense of their representations mustered by theologians in the face of iconoclastic opposition. Glenn Peers demonstrates that these problems of representation provide a unique window on Late Antique thought in general.
Reviews / Votes
"Peers' insightful and wide-ranging study supplies a clear and comprehensive history of the angelic image in cosmology and cult during the formative period prior to Iconoclasm. The paradoxes of the angelic body provide the proving ground for fiercely contested and incompatible claims for text and image as authoritative representations of the holy." - Jeffrey F. Hamburger, author of Nuns as Artists: The Visual Culture of a Medieval Convent "[Peers takes] the angelic experience as an instance of the problems inherent in Christian representation. But both astutely and elegantly, he treats angels not simply as an example but as the most enlightening case if we wish to understand these problems." - Anthony Cutler,' author of Imagery and Ideology in Byzantine Art"More details
Series
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
19 b-w photographs
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
544 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-22405-6 (9780520224056)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2001
1st Edition
Naval Institute Press
€61.49
Available for download
Person
Glenn Peers is Assistant Professor of Art and Art History at the University of Texas, Austin. He collaborated with Massimo Bernabo and Rita Tarasconi on Il Fisiologo di Smirne (1998), and he is completing a study on framing in Byzantine art.
Content
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction 1. Issues in Representing Angels 2. Arguments against Images of Angels 3. Representing Angels: Images and Theory 4. The Veneration of Angels and Their Images 5. Apprehending the Archangel Michael Conclusion Bibliography Index