Animation between Magic, Miracles and Mechanics: Natural and Supernatural Principles of Life in Medieval Imagery - Hardcover

Lohfert Jørgensen, Hans Henrik; Skinnebach, Laura Katrine; Laugerud, Henning

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 877219653X ISBN 13: 9788772196534

Publisher: Aarhus University Press, 2023

Synopsis

“Animation” implies that the image or figural object is alive, endowed with anima: a “soul”, “spirit” or “vital principle.” In the Middle Ages, holy or emphatically unholy imagery often possessed an ability to come to life, to act and do things, to move and gesticulate, to speak and exude. This “life” might be a result of natural or supernatural principles; it might be a work of magic, a work of mechanics or a miracle (a divine work). This book is about the different modes of animation that made medieval images perform their spectacular wonders of locomotion and physical transformation, ranging from mechanical machinery to magical conjuration and miraculous ensoulment. Talking and bleeding crucifixes are investigated alongside robot Redeemers, weeping Madonnas, automated devils and self-propelled statues – “statuas animatas” – that enacted their visible and audible animations in monasteries and churches, in historical technologies and treatises, in theurgical tales and demonologies. With its confessed reinvigoration of animism, this book will animate anyone with an interest in medieval art and art history, culture, ideas, religion, anthropology, philosophy and theology.

Edition details

• Publisher: Aarhus University Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 877219653X
• ISBN 13: 9788772196534
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 295