Likeness and presence. A history of the image before the era of a

A history of the image before the era of art Introduction; The icon froma modern perspective and in light of its history; Why images? Imagery and religion in Late Antiquity; Heavenly images and earthly portraits; Roman funerary portraits and portraits of the saints; The Imperial image in Antiquity and the problem of the Christian cult of images; Image devotion, public relations, and theology at the end of Antiquity; Church and image; The holy image in church decoration and a new policy of images; Pilgrims, emperors and confraternities: veneration of icons in Byzantium and Venice; The iconostasis and the role of the icon in the liturgy in private devotion; “Living painting”: poetry and rhetoric in a new style of icons in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; Statues, vessels, and signs: Medieval images and relics in the West; The icon in the civil life of Rome; In the Greek manner: Imported icons in the West; Norm and freedom: Italian icons in the age of the Tuscan cities; The madonnas of Siena: The image in urban life; The dialogue with the image: The era of the private iamge at the end of the Middle Ages; Religion and art: The crisis of the image at the beginning of the Modern Age. Before the Renaissance and Reformation, holy images - the only independent images then in existence - were treated not as "art" but as objects of veneration. The faithful believed that these images, through their likeness to the person represented, became a tangible presence of the Holy and were able to work miracles, deliver oracles, and bring victory on the battlefield. In this magisterial book, one of the world´s leading scholars of medieval art traces the long history of the image and its changing role in European culture. Belting´s study of the iconic portrait opens in late antiquity, when Christianity reversed its original ban on images, adapted the cult images of the "pagans", and began developing an iconography of its own. The heart of the work focuses on the Middle Ages, both East and West, when images of God and the saints underwent many significant changes either as icons or as statues. The final section of Likeness and Presence surveys the Reformation and Renaissance periods, when new attitudes toward images inaugurated what Belting calls the "era of art" that continues to the present day - an era during which the aesthetic quality has become the dominant aspect of the image. Belting neither "explains" images nor pretends that images explain themselves. Rather, he works from the conviction that images reveal their meaning best by their use. Likeness and Presence deals with the beliefs, superstitions, hopes, and fears that come into play as people handle and respond to sacred images. Recognizing the tensions between image and word inherent in religion, Belting includes in an appendix many important historical documents that relate to the history and use of images. Profusely illustrated, Likeness and Presence presents a compelling interpretation of the place of the image in Western history.