VCM

11Story

25 January 2010

Image of Christ

Image of Christ. Unknown artist
Venice, 1479
Werner Rolewinck, Fasciculus temporum omnes antiquorum cronicas complectens (Encyclopedia of History). Latin. Venice, Georgius Walch, 1479. Paper 28.6 x 20 cm
Gaston Aubonaeu collection, SOAS

In pre-modern Europe, visual references to specific persons in books or manuscripts relied on images of clothes or other props rather than on faces, and on amplifying images with words. Modernism would later turn this on its head, but if a person’s character is what you can expect of them, it might be better judged from their material trappings than their biology.

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