The Technology of Salvation and the Art of Geertgen tot Sint Jans / Edition 1

by John R. Decker

Overview

Investigating the complex interactions between devotional imagery and Church doctrine in the Low Countries during the fifteenth century, this book demonstrates how the pictorial arts intersected with popular religious practice. The author reconstructs the conceptual frameworks underlying the use and production of religious art in this period and provides a more nuanced understanding of the use of images in the process of soul formation. This study delves into the complexity of the early modern system of personal justification and argues that religious images and objects were part of a larger 'Technology of Salvation.' In order to make these connections clearer, the author analyzes selected works by Geertgen tot Sint Jans (Little Gerard at St. John's) and shows how they functioned within their larger social and historical milieu.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780754664536
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/16/2009
Series:	Visual Culture in Early Modernity
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.70(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

John R. Decker is an Art Historian at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to Northern art and architecture, his research interests also include: scholastic theology, monasticism, lay piety, lay spiritual movements, and the role of images and objects in devotional theory and practice.

Table of Contents

Contents: Introduction; 'A painter in his mother's womb'; The technology of salvation; Engendering contrition, perfecting the soul; Grace to the humble; Taming the wilderness; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.