The Many Faces of Christ: Portraying the Holy in the East and West, 300 to 1300 - Hardcover

Bacci, Michele

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1780232683 ISBN 13: 9781780232683

Publisher: Reaktion Books, 2014

Synopsis

It is common to think of Jesus of Nazareth's main physical characteristics as including long, wavy, blondish hair and a short beard. Yet the Holy Scriptures are silent about Christ's features, and his representations are hardly consistent in early Christian and medieval arts. The wearing of long hair, moreover, is explicitly condemned by St Paul as shameful and effeminate: therefore it is surprising that, notwithstanding the Apostle's authoritative judgement, the long-haired archetype came to be accepted, as late as the ninth century, as the standard iconography of the Son of God. In The Many Faces of Christ Michele Bacci examines the complex historical and cultural dynamics underlying the making and final successful establishment of Christ's image between late antiquity and the early Renaissance. Unlike earlier studies, the process is described against the background of ancient and biblical conceptions of beauty and the physical look as indicators of moral, ascetic or messianic qualities. It takes into account a broad spectrum of both iconographic and textual sources, and also looks at analogous processes in the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Taoist traditions. This book will be of interest not only to specialists of late antique, Byzantine and medieval studies, but to anybody interested in the historical figure of Jesus and its shifting, controversial conceptions over the course of history.

About this title

Review:

"This rigorous and innovative study makes a vital contribution to an ongoing debate about the emergence and crystallization of a particular physiognomy for Jesus in Christian art. Drawing upon comparative material from other religious traditions in the ancient world, the author demonstrates an impressive facility with, and command of, a broad range of evidence. Bacci's fresh insights are compelling and will engage readers from a range of backgrounds and scholarly disciplines." --Felicity Harley-McGowan, University of Melbourne

"What did Jesus of Nazareth look like? Did he have curly or long, blond or black hair, was his beard short or flowing? Written by a brilliant scholar and narrator, this book is the first comprehensive history of the shaping of Christ's face in Eastern and Western Christianity from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance. It analyses the search for and promotion of authentic images and authoritative texts. Addressing a wider public, the book offers groundbreaking insights into the religious imagination regarding the nature and role of holy men not only in Christianity but also in Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism, and Islam." --Professor Dr. Gerhard Wolf, Director, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Max-Planck-Institut.

This rigorous and innovative study makes a vital contribution to an ongoing debate about the emergence and crystallization of a particular physiognomy for Jesus in Christian art. Drawing upon comparative material from other religious traditions in the ancient world, the author demonstrates an impressive facility with, and command of, a broad range of evidence. Bacci s fresh insights are compelling and will engage readers from a range of backgrounds and scholarly disciplines. --Felicity Harley-McGowan, University of Melbourne"

What did Jesus of Nazareth look like? Did he have curly or long, blond or black hair, was his beard short or flowing? Written by a brilliant scholar and narrator, this book is the first comprehensive history of the shaping of Christ s face in Eastern and Western Christianity from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance. It analyses the search for and promotion of authentic images and authoritative texts. Addressing a wider public, the book offers groundbreaking insights into the religious imagination regarding the nature and role of holy men not only in Christianity but also in Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism, and Islam. --Professor Dr. Gerhard Wolf, Director, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Max-Planck-Institut."

This erudite and very innovative book on the invention of Christ s portrait is the first such study to give full weight to the influence of biblical and later texts that deal with iconic, ascetic beauty.
--Jean-Michel Spieser, University of Fribourg, Switzerland"

"This erudite and very innovative book on the invention of Christ's portrait is the first such study to give full weight to the influence of biblical and later texts that deal with iconic, ascetic beauty."
--Jean-Michel Spieser, University of Fribourg, Switzerland

About the Author:

Michele Bacci is Professor of Medieval Art History in the Faculty of Humanities and director of the Medieval Institute at Fribourg University, Switzerland. He is the author of five books and many articles, and has edited two volume of essays.

About this edition

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1780232683
• ISBN 13: 9781780232683
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256