The Art of Conversion: Christian Visual Culture in the Kingdom of KongoBetween the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries, the west central African kingdom of Kongo practiced Christianity and actively participated in the Atlantic world as an independent, cosmopolitan realm. Drawing on an expansive and largely unpublished set of objects, images, and documents, Cecile Fromont examines the advent of Kongo Christian visual culture and traces its development across four centuries marked by war, the Atlantic slave trade, and, finally, the rise of nineteenth-century European colonialism. By offering an extensive analysis of the religious, political, and artistic innovations through which the Kongo embraced Christianity, Fromont approaches the country's conversion as a dynamic process that unfolded across centuries. The African kingdom's elite independently and gradually intertwined old and new, local and foreign religious thought, political concepts, and visual forms to mold a novel and constantly evolving Kongo Christian worldview. Fromont sheds light on the cross-cultural exchanges between Africa, Europe, and Latin America that shaped the early modern world, and she outlines the religious, artistic, and social background of the countless men and women displaced by the slave trade from central Africa to all corners of the Atlantic world. |
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The Art of Conversion: Christian Visual Culture in the Kingdom of Kongo Cécile Fromont Limited preview - 2014 |
The Art of Conversion: Christian Visual Culture in the Kingdom of Kongo Cécile Fromont No preview available - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
Afonso Álvaro Angola António Manuel Atlantic Bakongo Belge de Rome Bernardino d’Asti Bontinck Brásio Brazil Breve Bulletin de l’Institut Cappuccini Capuchin Castelo de Vide Catholic central Africa central African church circa cloth coat of arms colonial Congo crucifixes cultural depicted early modern eighteenth century emblem European example Figure Filippo friars gente da igreja Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi images Istorica descrizione ivory Kikongo Kimpa Vita kimpasi king of Kongo Kingdom of Kongo Kongo Christian Kongo Crucifix Kongo elite Kongo kingdom l’Institut Historique Belge Lisbon Loango Lorenzo da Lucca Louis Jadin Luanda Mbanza Kongo mestres minkondi missionary Missione in prattica Monumenta monumental cross motifs Museum narrative Ngongo Mbata nkisi nkutu objects Order of Christ paintings Plate political Portugal Portuguese prestige realm regalia region religious ritual royal rulers Saint Anthony Saint James Salvador sangamento slave trade Soyo space of correlation status succinta relatione swords symbolic textiles Thornton visual watercolor
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Art of Conversion: Christian Visual Culture in the Kingdom of Kongo Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American Histo Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press Series Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia Series |
| Author | Cécile Fromont |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | UNC Press Books, 2014 |
| ISBN | 1469618710, 9781469618715 |
| Length | 283 pages |
| Subjects | › › Art / African History / Africa / West |
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