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Books > Arts & Architecture > Art forms, treatments & subjects > Art treatments & subjects > Iconography, subjects depicted in art
Based on a thorough examination of buildings, inscriptions,
archival documents and hagiographies, this book uncovers the
political significance of Bektashi shrines in the Ottoman imperial
age. It thus provides a fresh and comprehensive account of the
formative process of the Bektashi order, which started out as a
network of social groups that took issue with Ottoman imperial
policies in the late fifteenth century, was endorsed imperially as
part of Bayezid II's (r. 1481-1512) soft power policy, and was kept
in check by imperial authorities as the Ottoman approach to the
Safavid conflict hardened during the rest of the sixteenth century.
This book demonstrates that it was a combination of two collective
activities that established the primary parameters of Bektashi
culture from the late fifteenth century onwards. One was the
writing of Bektashi hagiographies; they linked hitherto distinct
social groups (such as wandering dervishes and warriors) with each
other through the lives of historical figures who were their patron
saints, idols and identity markers (such as the saint HacAE+/-
BektaAY and the martyr Seyyid Gazi), while incorporating them into
Ottoman history in creative ways. The other one was the
architectural remodelling of the saints' shrines. In terms of
style, imagery and content, this interrelated literary and
architectural output reveals a complicated process of negotiation
with the imperial order and its cultural paradigms. Examined in
more detail in the book are the shrines of Seyyid Gazi and HacAE+/-
BektaAY and associated legends and hagiographies. Though
established as independent institutions in medieval Anatolia, they
were joined in the emerging Bektashi network under the Ottomans,
became its principal centres and underwent radical architectural
transformation, mainly under the patronage of raider commanders
based in the Balkans. In the process, they thus came to occupy an
intermediary socio-political zone between the Ottoman empire and
its contestants in the sixteenth century.
The face of the divine feminine can be found everywhere in Mexico.
One of the most striking features of Mexican religious life is the
prevalence of images of the Virgin Mother of God. This is partly
because the divine feminine played such a prominent role in
pre-Hispanic Mexican religion. Goddess images were central to the
devotional life of the Aztecs, especially peasants and those living
in villages outside the central city of Tenochtitlan (present day
Mexico City). In these rural communities fertility and fecundity,
more than war rituals and sacrificial tribute, were the main focus
of cultic activity. Both Aztec goddesses and the Christian Madonnas
who replaced them were associated, and sometimes identified, with
nature and the environment: the earth, water, trees and other
sources of creativity and vitality. This book uncovers the myths
and images of 22 Aztec Goddesses and 28 Christian Madonnas of
Mexico. Their rich and symbolic meaning is revealed by placing them
in the context of the religious worldviews in which they appear and
by situating them within the devotional life of the faithful for
whom they function as powerful mediators of divine grace and
terror.
A contribution to the field of theological aesthetics, this book
explores the arts in and around the Pentecostal and charismatic
renewal movements. It proposes a pneumatological model for
creativity and the arts, and discusses different art forms from the
perspective of that model. Pentecostals and other charismatic
Christians have not sufficiently worked out matters of aesthetics,
or teased out the great religious possibilities of engaging with
the arts. With the flourishing of Pentecostal culture comes the
potential for an equally flourishing artistic life. As this book
demonstrates, renewal movements have participated in the arts but
have not systematized their findings in ways that express their
theological commitments-until now. The book examines how to
approach art in ways that are communal, dialogical, and
theologically cultivating.
How can we grasp the significance of what Jesus Christ did for us?
Might literature help us as we seek to understand the Christian
faith? J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings has generated much
discussion about the relationship between Christianity and
literature. It is well known that Tolkien disliked allegory. Yet he
acknowledged that his work is imbued with Christian symbolism and
meaning. Based on the inaugural Hansen Lectureship series delivered
by Philip Ryken, this volume mines the riches of Tolkien's
theological imagination. In the characters of Gandalf, Frodo, and
Aragorn, Ryken hears echoes of the threefold office of Christ-his
prophetic, priestly, and royal roles. Guided by Ryken, readers will
discover that they can learn much about the one who is the true
prophet, priest, and king through Tolkien's imaginative
storytelling. Based on the annual lecture series hosted at Wheaton
College's Marion E. Wade Center, volumes in the Hansen Lectureship
Series reflect on the imaginative work and lasting influence of
seven British authors: Owen Barfield, G. K. Chesterton, C. S.
Lewis, George MacDonald, Dorothy L. Sayers, J. R. R. Tolkien, and
Charles Williams.
The Bible contains some of the greatest stories and teachings of
all time. It is also the inspiration for some of the greatest
pictures ever painted. Sister Wendy's Bible Treasury captures some
of the Bible's most dramatic scenes and memorable characters, as
depicted by artists such as Botticelli, Caravaggio, Degas, Duccio,
Durer, El Greco, Giotto, Leonardo, Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens
Rublev, Titian and Van Gogh. From the majesty of Genesis to the
mystery of Revelation, Sister Wendy invites you to share her
delight in the way these painters have interpreted and depicted the
Bible over two thousand years. This beautifully presented volume
includes 55 illustrations.
At the turn of the fifteenth century, private devotionals became a
speciality of the renowned Ghent-Bruges illuminators. Wealthy
patrons who commissioned work from these artists often spared no
expense in the presentation of their personal prayer books, or
'books of hours', from detailed decoration to luxurious bindings
and embroidery. This enchanting illuminated manuscript was painted
by the Master of the David Scenes in the Grimani Breviary (known as
the David Master), one of the renowned Flemish illuminators in the
sixteenth century. Every page of the manuscript is exquisitely
decorated. Fine architectural interiors, gorgeous landscapes and
detailed city scenes, each one depicting a narrative, form the
subjects of three full-size illuminations and forty-two full-page
miniatures. There are floral borders on a gold ground or
historiated borders in the Flemish and Italian style on every page.
It is one of the finest examples of medieval illumination in a
personal prayer book and the most copiously illustrated work of the
David Master to survive. The manuscript owes its name to the French
Queen, Marie de Medici, widow of King Henri IV. For a time she went
into exile in Brussels, where she is thought to have acquired the
manuscript before moving again to Cologne. An inscription in
English states that she left the book of hours in this city, and it
is here that an English manuscript collector, Francis Douce, may
have acquired the book and eventually donated it to the Bodleian
Library. Together with a scholarly introduction that gives an
overview of Flemish illumination and examines each of the
illustrations in detail, this full-colour facsimile limited
edition, bound in linen with a leather quarter binding and
beautifully presented in a slipcase, faithfully reproduces all 176
leaves of the original manuscript.
This is a comparative study of the national significance of the
classical revival which marked English and French art during the
second half of the nineteenth century. It argues that the main
focus of artists' interest in classical Greece, was the body of the
Greek athlete. It explains this interest, first, by artists'
contact with the art of Pheidias and Polycletus which portrayed it;
and second, by the claim, made by physical anthropologists, that
the classical body typified the race of the European nations.
This richly diverse exploration of female artists and
self-portraits is a brilliant and poignant demonstration of
originality in works of haunting variety. The two earliest
self-portraits come from 12th-century illuminated manuscripts in
which nuns gaze at us across eight centuries. In 16th-century
Italy, Sofonisba Anguissola paints one of the longest series of
self-portraits, spanning adolescence to old age. In 17th-century
Holland, Judith Leyster shows herself at the easel as a relaxed,
self-assured professional. In the 18th century, artists from
Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun to Angelica Kauffman express both passion
for their craft and the idea of femininity; and in the 19th the
salons and art schools at last open their doors to a host of
talented women artists, including Berthe Morisot, ushering in a new
and resonant self-confidence. The modern period demolishes taboos:
Alice Neel painting herself nude at eighty, Frida Kahlo rendering
physical pain, Cindy Sherman exploring identity, Marlene Dumas
dispensing with all boundaries. The full verve of Frances
Borzello's enthralling text, and the hypnotic intensity of the
accompanying self-portraits, is revealed to the full in this
inspiring book.
This book analyses the animal images used in William Hogarth's art,
demonstrating how animals were variously depicted as hybrids,
edibles, companions, emblems of satire and objects of cruelty.
Beirne offers an important assessment of how Hogarth's various
audiences reacted to his gruesome images and ultimately what was
meant by 'cruelty'.
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