Subtle Bodies: Representing Angels in Byzantium

Author:   Glenn Peers
Publisher:   University of California Press
Volume:   32
ISBN:  

9780520224056


Pages:   250
Publication Date:   14 February 2001
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Out of stock   Availability explained
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

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Subtle Bodies: Representing Angels in Byzantium


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Overview

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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Glenn Peers
Publisher:   University of California Press
Imprint:   University of California Press
Volume:   32
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.544kg
ISBN:  

9780520224056


ISBN 10:   0520224051
Pages:   250
Publication Date:   14 February 2001
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock   Availability explained
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

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

Reviews

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


"""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"""


Author Information

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.

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