"They preach not by speaking out loud but by signifying": vitreous arts as typology

• Autores: Herbert Leon Kessler
• Localización: Gesta, ISSN 0016-920X, Vol. 51, Nº. 1, 2012, págs. 55-70
• Idioma: inglés
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• Dialnet Métricas: 2 Citas
• Resumen

  • By citing such scriptural authorizations as the desert tabernacle and its furnishings to justify art, Christian defenders of physical images sought to neutralize the risk of idolatry in material images. Metallic and vitreous arts�mosaic, stained glass, and enamel�crafted from sand, pigments, and metal under intense heat not only approximated the gems and lustrous matter of the sanctioned objects but also comprehended the mechanism of metamorphosis that mimicked the process of finding redolent Christian meaning in the literal Jewish accounts represented on them. In aiming to reveal truth beneath the surface, the crafting and figuring of matter was an analogue of typology. The brazen serpent was a prime example; cited by Christ himself, it both supported the claim that sacred images had replaced Jewish scripture just as Christ had fulfilled the Old Testament �prophecies� with his person and was taken to evoke Christ's two natures in its combination of figure and material, the snake signifying his humanity and the bronze his divinity. When rendered in enamel or glass, moreover, it served as a synecdoche of art more generally, encapsulating the relationship of Old Testament to New, the antithesis of exaltation and humiliation that was the essence of Christ's person, the relation of image to salvation, and the complementarity of object and depiction. Like other prefigurations rendered in vitreous materials, the brazen serpent demonstrated that exegetic unfolding and material elevation were perfectly harmonious, thereby neutralizing any fear of idolatry by demonstrating that objects, not just words, were bearers of meaning.