images of christ in medieval illuminations

The illuminations are also placed in wider religious and social contexts, particularly in relation to anxiety about the proper use of devotional images and relations among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. McCloud’s articulation of the unique aspects of sequential art, particularly the role of the “gutter” (the space between pictorial scenes), and Iser’s concept of the “blank” (a gap within narrative action that the viewer fills) provide a framework through which these narratives are understood. Russakoff’s approach to narrative imagery draws on Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics (Harper Collins, 1994) and the reader-response theory of Wolfgang Iser’s The Act of Reading (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978). She considers how narrative is conveyed, drawing attention to moments when illuminations diverge from text. The relationship between image and prototype is a recurring theme, as is the increasing visual ambiguity between representations of living beings, apparitions, and images (4). She examines the artistic choices made in representing two- and three-dimensional artworks-often panel paintings and sculptures-that display “signs of life” and interact miraculously with devotees and detractors. These manuscripts are part of the surge in devotion to the Virgin in the Gothic period, though they are differentiated by manuscript type, patronage, and context.įocusing on miracles that place an image of the Virgin (usually the Virgin and Child) at the center of a narrative, Russakoff considers the complex relationships between text and image. The illuminations studied are found in thirteenth- to fifteenth-century vernacular French manuscripts containing Marian miracles, including Gautier de Coinci’s Miracles de Nostre Dame, the anonymous Vie de Pères, Jean de Vignay’s Miroir historial, the anonymous Ci nous dit, the anonymous Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages, and Jean Miélot’s version of the Miracles de Nostre Dame. Anna Russakoff’s book Imagining the Miraculous adds to studies of Marian iconography through a focus not on the miraculous objects themselves, but rather on the representations of miraculous images in manuscript illuminations. Within the cult of the Virgin Mary, representations of the Virgin and her miracles in medieval sculpture and painting highlight and reinforce her intercessory powers for devotees. Performance Art/Performance Studies/Public Practice.Museum Practice/Museum Studies/Curatorial Studies/Arts Administration.Drawings/Prints/Work on Paper/Artistc Practice.Digital Media/New Media/Web-Based Media.

Architectural History/Urbanism/Historic Preservation.Subject, Genre, Media, Artistic Practice.

Images of christ in medieval illuminations