Author:
Paleotti, Gabriele, 1524-1597, author.
ImprintLos Angeles : Getty Research Institute, [2012]
Descriptionxiii, 353 p. ill. ; 26 cm.
Note:This volume translates Gabriele Paleotti, Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane (printed in Bologna, 1582).
Note:The main intention of the present treatise concerning the abuse of images -- What we mean by the word "image" -- Elements to be considered in every image -- On the origin of all images -- Whether the introduction of images preceded that of books, and the extent to which they go together -- Whether the art of forming images ranks with the noble or ignoble arts -- When exercised in a Christian way, the art of forming images is of the utmost nobility -- Examples of some painters, sculptors, and other formers of images who were numbered among saints and the blessed, or renowned for the exemplary goodness of their lives -- On painting and sculpture and other arts engaged in the making of images -- All images fall under two main headings : the sacred and the profane -- Which images are called profane -- On the reasons profane images were introduced -- The meaning of "idols," "simulacra," "graven image," "cast image," and "likeness" -- On the origin of idols and simulacra -- The occasion of the introduction of idols and simulacra into the world for the first time -- Which images are called sacred -- On the antiquity and origin of sacred images -- Why sacred images were introduced among the Christian people -- On the proper and particular end of Christian images -- Christian images relate to God, ourselves, and our neighbor -- On the similarity between the office and end of the Christian painter and those of the orator -- On the delight that Christian images bring -- Christian images are of great service for teaching the people to live rightly -- Other reasons proving the helpfulness of Christian images in instructing the people -- Christian images have great power to move the feelings of persons -- On the various remarkable effects produced by pious and devout images -- How much force the Demon has used to get rid of sacred images among the Christian people -- Authorities form holy scripture, the high pontiffs, and the councils that prove the use of sacred images -- Ancient examples cited by various Greek and Latin authors that prove the use of images -- What the true mode is of venerating sacred images in a Christian manner and the cult that is due them -- One th difference between Christians and pagans in adoring images -- Whether the same cult is owed to a sacred image as the cult suitable to its "imaged" prototype, and whether this is a single act, and how -- When Christians adore images today, the danger of their committing idolatry is utterly remoteBeing unable to get rid of the use of images, the Demon tries to fill them with abuses -- On the things that can and cannot be depicted, and the order to be followed in the present book -- On sacred pictures that sin in matters of faith, and first on what are called rash pictures -- On scandalous pictures -- On erroneous pictures -- On suspect pictures -- On heretical pictures -- On superstitious pictures -- On apocryphal pictures -- On pictures of Jove, Apollo, Mercury, Juno, Ceres, and other false gods -- On pictures of male and female saints or other religious subjects -- Abuses in profane pictures and whether they are admissible from a Christian perspective -- Profane pictures are not suitable in churches -- On the images of pagan emperors, tyrants, and other persecutors of the Christian name -- Replies to various objections int he matter of possessing images of pagan emperors and others like them -- Among images of philosophers, orators, poets, captains, or other pagans, which should be allowed -- On the statues set up by Christian peoples in honor of their ruler -- On statues that Christian rulers erect to themselves -- On images from nature, which are called portraits -- On portraits of others -- Portraits of lovers : guidelines for painters in dealing with them -- On portraits of heretics -- In portraits of saints -- On profane pictures representing various things, such as battles, landscapes, edifices, animals trees, plants, and others -- Abuses common to sacred and profane pictures -- On nonverisimiliar pictures -- On disproportionate pictures -- On imperfect pictures -- On vain and otiose pictures -- On ridiculous pictures -- On pictures that bring novelty and are unusual -- On pictures that are obscure and difficult to understand -- On indifferent and uncertain pictures -- On fierce, horrendous pictures -- On monstrous and prodigious pictures -- On the paintings called grotesques and whether in antiquity they were used only in underground places or also in buildings above ground -- Various opinions on the origin of paintings of grotesques -- Other reasons for the origin of grotesques and why they were called that -- The reason why grotesques have been so embraced by both ancients and moderns and have kept their name -- Grotesques are hardly suitable elsewhere today, and not at all in churches -- Response to various objections commonly adduced in defense of grotesques -- On pictures of the virtues and vices and the great difficulty in representing these -- A few guidelines for representing images of the vices and virtues -- On pictures of symbols -- On pictures in imprese -- On pictures of family arms -- Family arms are unsuitable in churches -- Why spiritual books may bear the name of the author, but family arms are unsuited to sacred pictures -- On family arms set up in churches, relative to the intention of donors who affix them and relative to the opinion that may be formed by those who view them -- A few general warnings set down by authors to be observed in every picture so that it may satisfy everyone -- COnclusion on what we judge most necessary so that the things depicted will be commended by all.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references and index.
