Visionary Experience in the Golden Age of Spanish ArtIn this original and lucid account of how Spanish painters of the 16th and 17th centuries dealt with mystic visions in their art, and of how they attempted to "represent the unrepresentable", Victor Stoichita aims to establish a theory of visionary imagery in Western art in general, and one for the Spanish Counter-Reformation in particular. He reveals how the spirituality of the Counter-Reformation was characterized by a rediscovery of the role of the imagination in the exercise of faith. This had important consequences for painters such as Velazquez, Zurbaran and El Greco, leading to the development of ingenious solutions for visual depictions of mystical experience. This was to crystallize into an overtly meditative and didactic pictorial language. That Spanish painting is both cerebral and passionate is due to the particular historical forces which shaped it. Stoichita's account will be of crucial interest not just to scholars of Spanish art but to anyone interested in how art responds to ideological pressures. |
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Contents
Introduction | 7 |
Vision and Metalanguage | 27 |
Visions and Paintings | 45 |
The Distant View | 78 |
The Making of a Painting | 103 |
Representations of the Mystical Eros | 121 |
The Seeing Body | 162 |
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Common terms and phrases
actual already altarpiece apparition appear arms artist become Bernard body Carducho century Christ cloud communication completely Conception contemplation context Cross depicted described Detail devotion distance divine doubt ecstasy ecstatic effect engraving examine example expression extremely eyes face fact figure function gesture hand head heaven Holy iconography illus Immaculate important inspired interesting Italy John Juan lactation language later light looking manifestation Murillo mystical narrative nature object oil on canvas original painting passage person position possible praying present problem question raised reality refer relation religious represent representation reveal rhetoric Ribalta's role Sacred Saint scene seen seventeenth century significant soul Spanish speak spectator spirit St Francis standing story symbolic takes takes place Teresa theme tradition upper Virgin Vision of St visionary experience visionary painting visual whole
Popular passages
Page 207 - For an account of this kind of complaint see ER Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, trans. WR Trask (London, 1953...
Bibliographic information
| Title | Visionary Experience in the Golden Age of Spanish Art Essays in Art and Culture Online access: EBSCO Art & Architecture Complete |
| Author | Victor I. Stoichita |
| Translated by | Anne-Marie Glasheen |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Reaktion Books, 1995 |
| ISBN | 0948462752, 9780948462757 |
| Length | 224 pages |
| Subjects | › Art / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |