Seminar: “Signs of Life: The Living Image in the Medieval Sculptural Imaginary”
Jordan Koel (Mellon Fellow, PIMS)
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Western Europe, the three-dimensional anthropomorphic image became a virtually ubiquitous presence. From rural shrines to the porticos and altars of the towering cathedrals rising in urban centers, to diminutive statuettes produced in ever greater numbers carried by the faithful, these artificial bodies populated the visual environment as never before and came to inhabit a central place in medieval devotional practice. Concurrent with this explosion of artistic output, tales of miraculous animation emerged as both a symptom of and an integral part of the process in the legitimization of Christian devotional sculpture. The iconophobic rhetoric that had long prevailed was undermined and inverted through the circulation of legends that proclaimed their superiority to the pagan idol.
This presentation investigates the signs of life that were written into the history of medieval sculpture. Exploring this question brings into focus the changing perceptions of sculpture during a period of increased production and rapid stylistic change, throwing into sharp relief the issues and anxieties around sculpted images and their role in medieval devotional life.