C. Göttler
Last Things
Art and the Religious Imagination in the Age of Reform
XXXIV+437 p., 156 b/w ill. + 25 colour ill., 156 x 234 mm, 2010
ISBN: 978-2-503-52397-2
Languages: English
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Based on a detailed study of visual and textual sources, most of which were previously unknown, this book contributes to an ongoing interdisciplinary discussion of the changing functions, meanings, and values of material and mental images in early modern art and religious practice.
The biblical expression providerenovissima
('the foreseeing of the Last Things') brought about a vast
exegetical, didactic, and devotional literature that made use of a
rich imagery of vision and sight. The artistic play with –
and, in some cases, actual use of – optical, telescopic, and
mirroring devices pointed to and expanded the limitations of
corporeal sight, while at the same time blurring the distinctions
between the miraculous, the marvellous, and the curious. Based on a
detailed study of visual and textual sources, most of which were
previously unknown, Göttler’s book contributes to an
ongoing interdisciplinary discussion of the changing functions,
meanings, and values of material and mental images in early modern
art and religious practice. Centring on various sets of art works
and artefacts, she argues that the imagery of the Last Things was
linked to key problems of visual representation and to an
increasing awareness of the artwork as a site of communication and
exchange. The book sheds new light on the dynamics of response and
the place of the viewer as well as on visual strategies and
techniques of enhancing the efficacy of an artwork, making it
memorable, emotionally engaging, and alive. It reintroduces notions
of materiality and craft into the discussion of art, thus exploring
a theme central to early modern thought but largely neglected in
scholarship until recent years.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Author’s Note
Abbreviations
Introduction: Last Things and the Vision of the Imagination
Chapter 1: Indulgenced Prints of Saint Gregory’s Miraculous Mass
Chapter 2: Sites for the Devout and Sites for the Curious: Limbo, Purgatory, and Hell at Varallo
Chapter 3: Memory-Images of the Netherworld and their Subversion in the Age of Reform
Chapter 4: Hearts, Mirrors, and Wheels: Last Things in Late-Sixteenth-Century Northern Prints
Chapter 5: Shaping the Soul: Giovanni Bernardino Azzolino’s Novissimi in Wax
Chapter 6: The Eye as Thief: Mental and Material Images in Meditation
Chapter 7: Jan Brueghel’s Poetic Hells
Epilogue: Fables of Saturn and Vulcan
Selected Bibliography
Index
Review
"Last Things is a triumph in the genre of visual culture, presenting a wide swath of material on the theme of early modern memory and eschatology. Göttler's text also offers an impressive and detailed engagement with previous research. [...] Last Things is a must-read for scholars who have been following the ever-growing field of memory studies." (Jessica Buskirk, in CAA Reviews, September 23, 2011, URL http://www.caareviews.org/reviews/1703)
"The wealth of information, geographical and chronological extent, and variety of documentation make this volume quite a formidable read. (...) the book is innovative in scope and subject and truly interdisciplinary in its use of documents and visual material." (R. Panzanelli, in: Renaissance Quartely, Vol. 64, No. 4 (Winter 2011), p. 1229-1231)
"Some books must be sipped, not gulped, because they have been distilled from long research and erudition. This large, richly illustrated book must be counted among them. (...) The book offers up a feast for readers of this journal (...). (L. Silver in Sixteenth Century Journal, XLII/3, Fall 2011, p. 811-812)
This publication is also distributed by: ISD, Marston