Contrasting Images of the Book of Revelation in Late Medieval and Early Modern Art A Case Study in Visual Exegesis

by O'Hear, Natasha F. H.

• ISBN13: 9780199590100
• ISBN10: 0199590109
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Natasha O'Hear considers seven different visualisations of all or part of the Book of Revelation across a range of different media, from illuminated manuscripts, to tapestries, to altarpieces to paintings woodcut prints. Artists featured include the Van Eycks, Memling, Botticelli, Durer and Cranach the Elder. This study is a contribution to the history of interpretation of the Book of Revelation in the Late Medieval and Early Modern period in the form of seven visual case studies ranging from 1250-1522. It is also is an attempt to understand the different ways in which images exhibit hermeneutical strategies akin to what is found in textual exegesis, but with the peculiar properties of synchronicity of both subject-matter and effect that distinguish them from reading a text. The book explores the multi-faceted scope of visual exegesis as a way of exploring the content and the character of a biblical text such as The Book of Revelation, as well as the complementary relationship between textual and visual exegesis.

Author Biography

Natasha O'Hear currently teaches English at an inner city school in North London. Prior to this she was Junior Research Fellowship at Worcester College, Oxford and a Lecturer in Theology at the University of Oxford.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. xii
Abbreviations	p. xv
Brief Summary Outline of the Book of Revelation	p. xvi
Introduction	p. 1
Rationale behind the study and choice of visual case studies	p. 3
Brief outline of the study	p. 5
Towards an interdisciplinary methodology	p. 7
The Lambeth Apocalypse: Reading, Viewing, and 'Internalizing' the Book of Revelation in the Thirteenth Century	p. 11
Introduction	p. 11
The Anglo-Norman Apocalypse: Genre, patrons, and purpose	p. 13
The Berengaudus Commentary and the development of apocalyptic exegesis	p. 16
The Lambeth Apocalypse	p. 22
Questions of date, provenance, and patron	p. 22
Questions of style and unity in Lambeth	p. 25
The reading/viewing experience	p. 27
The role of John in the Lambeth Apocalypse	p. 31
Contemporary theological issues and the Lambeth Apocalypse	p. 34
The'elect' and the'reprobates	p. 34
Anti-Judaism, Antichrist, and the future in the Lambeth Apocalypse	p. 37
Conclusion	p. 40
The Angers Apocalypse Tapestry: A Fourteenth-Century Walking Tour of the Book of Revelation	p. 43
Introduction	p. 43
Patron and possible purpose of the Angers Apocalypse Tapestry	p. 45
Jean de Bondol and the manuscript models for Angers	p. 49
The Angers Apocalypse Tapestry: Form and composition	p. 51
Issues of style, physicality, and temporality in the Angers Apocalypse Tapestry	p. 53
The role of John	p. 55
Exegetical emphases of the Angers Apocalypse Tapestry	p. 58
Conclusion	p. 67
Visualizing the Book of Revelation for the Fifteenth-Century Congregation: The Ghent Altarpiece (1432) and the St John Altarpiece (1479)	p. 69
Introduction	p. 69
The Ghent Altarpiece	p. 73
The patrons of the Ghent Altarpiece, its original location and function	p. 76
The theological programme of the Ghent Altarpiece and its likely sources	p. 79
Conclusion	p. 86
Hans Memling's St John Altarpiece	p. 87
Setting and function of the altarpiece	p. 90
Memling's iconographic and textual influences	p. 91
Detailed analysis of the Apocalypse panel of the St John Altarpiece	p. 94
Conclusion	p. 102
The Mystic Nativity; Botticelli and the Book of Revelation	p. 105
Introduction	p. 105
The artist: Alessandro Botticelli	p. 106
Botticelli's cultural and intellectual context	p. 108
Patron, place, and purpose of The Mystic Nativity	p. 114
The Mystic Nativity	p. 118
Conclusion	p. 132
A Time of Transition: Visual Representations of the Book of Revelation in Germany in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Period	p. 135
Introduction	p. 135
The Koberger Bible	p. 138
Durer's Apocalypse Series	p. 142
Dürer's artistic development: preparing for the 'Apocalypse	p. 142
Dürer's cultural context: apocalyptic speculation in the 1490s	p. 146
Dürer's personal and theological development, 1496-8	p. 147
Dürer's artistic influences	p. 150
The layout of Dürer's Apocalypse Series	p. 154
Dürer as interpreter of the Book of Revelation	p. 160
Lucas Cranach and the Book of Revelation	p. 175
Lucas Cranach: artist and entrepreneur	p. 175
Lucas Cranach's Passional Christi and Antichristi	p. 181
Cranach's Book of Revelation illustrations, publication and reaction	p. 184
Luther's role in the illustrations for the Book of Revelation	p. 186
Dürer's and Cranach's Apocalypse images: a comparison	p. 188
Conclusion	p. 196
Hermeneutical Reflections and Visual Exegesis	p. 199
Introduction	p. 199
Visual exegesis as Sachexegese: A critical summary of the main findings	p. 202
Text-image issues	p. 207
Visualizing John's visions	p. 210
Second-order reflection	p. 212
Darstellung versus Vorstellung	p. 213
Decoding versus actualizing visualizations	p. 218
Hermeneutical conclusions and a contemporary example of Sachexegese	p. 221
Re-envisioning the Book of Revelation	p. 225
Blake's re-envisioning of biblical texts	p. 233
Conclusion	p. 237
Appendices
The Book of Revelation: A Visionary Text?	p. 243
Brief Descriptions of the Koberger, Durer, and Cranach Apocalypse Images	p. 255
Tables 1-5; Graph 1	p. 259
Bibliography	p. 265
Index	p. 283
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