Image and Belief:
Studies in Celebration of the Eightieth Anniversary of the Index of Christian Art
Edited by Colum Hourihane

Paper | 1999 | $42.00 / £24.95
Cloth | 1999 | $95.00 / £56.00
342 pp. | 8 1/2 x 11 | 4 color photos 175 halftones

Shopping Cart | Reviews | Table of Contents

The Index of Christian Art, founded in 1917, is today recognized as the premier resource for Christian and medieval iconography up to 1400. To mark its eightieth anniversary, seventeen scholars contributed papers to this volume, which focuses on the Index's twin strengths: iconography and methodology. From the heterogeneous imagery of the Crusaders to the repellent iconography of social rejection, from the significance of gruesome torture scenes to the moral precepts that shaped the enigmatic Ashburnham Pentateuch, the studies in the first part of Image and Belief provide stimulating examples of recent research in iconography.

With the growing application of computer databases and the Internet to the field of art history, the process of describing and classifying the subjects of art has become even more important and controversial. The papers in the second part of this volume deal with this critical area, giving analytical proposals for improving art-historical standards through computerization. They also provide case histories of specific applications, including the use of a database of Dutch printers' devices to reveal the long-hidden meaning of a major painting by Rubens. Particular attention is given to the use of ICONCLASS in iconographic description and to demonstrations of the improved capabilities of the new Iconclass2000 browser.The contributors are Adelaide Bennett, Hans Brandhorst, James D'Emilio, Gerda Duifjes-Vellekoop, John Fleming, Jaroslav Folda, Giovanni Freni, Cynthia Hahn, Debra Hassig, Avril Henry, Lutz Heusinger, Andreas Petzold, Helene Roberts, Alison Stones, Carol Togneri, Peter van Huisstede, Jörgen van den Berg, and Dorothy Hoogland Verkerk.

Reviews:

"[The book] shows the fruits of specialist research and is gloriously eclectic in its material. . . . All of this makes for fascinating reading for the academic art historian. . . ."--Christopher Colven, The Art Newspaper

"A volume with many solid and some truly outstanding examples of both traditional and innovative iconographic scholarship."--CAA Reviews

Table of Contents

Other Princeton books by Colum Hourihane:

• From Ireland Coming: Irish Art from the Early Christian to the Late Gothic Period and Its European Context.
• Insights and Interpretations: Studies in Celebration of the Eighty-fifth Anniversary of the Index of Christian Art.
• King David in the Index of Christian Art.
• Objects, Images, and the Word: Art in the Service of the Liturgy.
• Virtue and Vice: The Personifications in the Index of Christian Art.

Series:

• Publications of the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University
• Index of Christian Art Occasional Papers
  Colum Hourihane, Editor

Subject Areas:

• Art and Architecture
• Religion

Index of Christian Art Occasional Papers 3

Shopping Cart:

For customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia
Paper: $42.00 ISBN13: 978-0-691-01003-8
Cloth: $95.00 ISBN13: 978-0-691-01002-1

For customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India
Paper: £24.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-01003-8
Cloth: £56.00 ISBN13: 978-0-691-01002-1

Prices subject to change without notice

File created: 7/1/2008

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