Project

Replicating Holiness in the Visual Culture of the Counter-Reformation

Program

ACLS Fellowship Program

Department

School of Art

Named Award

ACLS/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Junior Faculty Fellow named award

Abstract

This project examines the visualization and replication of sanctity during the period of the Counter-Reformation as expressed in the popular revival of medieval cult images, the development of new pictorial programs representing models of holiness, and the documentation of hagiographic narratives from the Middle Ages. In contrast with earlier studies, this project considers both iconic and narrative images in the context of the religious conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants; using these types of representations, the research will explore theories of visual mimesis, authenticity, historicity, and reception. This study will also examine the interconnections between the Middle Ages and the Counter-Reformation for an understanding of the historiography of medieval studies.