| ISBN |
9781606061169 (paperback) : |
| Name |
Paleotti, Gabriele, 1524-1597 author. |
| Uniform title |
Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane English |
| Title |
Discourse on sacred and profane images / Gabriele Paleotti ; introduction by Paolo Prodi ; translation by William McCuaig. |
| Published |
Los Angeles : Getty Research Institute, [2012] |
| ©2012. |
| Description |
xiii, 353 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm. |
| Series |
Texts & documents |
| Notes |
This volume translates Gabriele Paleotti, Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane (printed in Bologna, 1582). |
| Note |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
DISCOURSE ON SACRED AND PROFANE IMAGES -- Dedication -- Proem -- A Few Remarks to Readers of the Present Discourse -- BOOK 1 -- ch. 1 The main intention of the present treatise concerning the abuse of images Three-part outline of this first book -- ch. 2 What we mean by the word "image" -- ch. 3 Elements to be considered in every image -- ch. 4 On the origin of all images -- ch. 5 Whether the introduction of images preceded that of books, and the extent to which they go together -- ch. 6 Whether the art of forming images ranks with the noble or ignoble arts -- ch. 7 When exercised in a Christian way, the art of forming images is of the utmost nobility -- ch. 8 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 -- ch. 9 On painting and sculpture and other arts engaged in the making of images -- |
| Contents note continued: ch. 10 All images fall under two main headings: the sacred and the profane -- ch. 11 Which images are called profane -- ch. 12 On the reasons profane images were introduced -- ch. 13 The meaning of "idols," "simulacra," "graven image," "cast image," and "likeness" -- ch. 14 On the origin of idols and simulacra -- ch. 15 The occasion of the introduction of idols and simulacra into the world for the first time -- ch. 16 Which images are called sacred -- ch. 17 On the antiquity and origin of sacred images -- ch. 18 Why sacred images were introduced among the Christian people -- ch. 19 On the proper and particular end of Christian images -- ch. 20 Christian images relate to God, ourselves, and our neighbor -- ch. 21 On the similarity between the office and end of the Christian painter and those of the orator -- ch. 22 On the delight that Christian images bring -- ch. 23 Christian images are of great service for teaching the people to live rightly -- |
| Contents note continued: ch. 24 Other reasons proving the helpfulness of Christian images in instructing the people -- ch. 25 Christian images have great power to move the feelings of persons -- ch. 26 On the various remarkable effects produced by pious and devout images -- ch. 27 How much force the Demon has used to get rid of sacred images among the Christian people -- ch. 28 Authorities from holy scripture, the high pontiffs, and the councils that prove the use of sacred images -- ch. 29 Ancient examples cited by various Greek and Latin authors that prove the use of images -- ch. 30 What the true mode is of venerating sacred images in a Christian manner and the cult that is due them -- ch. 31 On the difference between Christians and pagans in adoring images -- ch. 32 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 -- |
| Contents note continued: ch. 33 When Christians adore images today, the danger of their committing idolatry is utterly remote -- BOOK 2 -- ch. 1 Being unable to get rid of the use of images, the Demon tries to fill them with abuses -- ch. 2 On the things that can and cannot be depicted, and the order to be followed in the present book -- ch. 3 On sacred pictures that sin in matters of faith, and first on what are called rash pictures -- ch. 4 On scandalous pictures -- ch. 5 On erroneous pictures -- ch. 6 On suspect pictures -- ch. 7 On heretical pictures -- ch. 8 On superstitious pictures -- ch. 9 On apocryphal pictures -- ch. 10 On pictures of Jove, Apollo, Mercury, Juno, Ceres, and other false gods -- ch. 11 On pictures of male and female saints or other religious subjects -- ch. 12 Abuses in profane pictures and whether they are admissible from a Christian perspective -- ch. 13 Profane pictures are not suitable in churches -- |
| Contents note continued: ch. 14 On the images of pagan emperors, tyrants, and other persecutors of the Christian name -- ch. 15 Replies to various objections in the matter of possessing images of pagan emperors and others like them -- ch. 16 Among images of philosophers, orators, poets, captains, or other pagans, which should be allowed -- ch. 17 On the statues set up by Christian peoples in honor of their rulers -- ch. 18 On statues that Christian rulers erect to themselves -- ch. 19 On images from nature, which are called portraits -- ch. 20 On portraits of others -- ch. 21 Portraits of lovers: guidelines for painters in dealing with them -- ch. 22 On portraits of heretics -- ch. 23 On portraits of saints -- ch. 24 On profane pictures representing various things, such as battles, landscapes, edifices, animals, trees, plants, and others -- ch. 25 Abuses common to sacred and profane pictures On lying and false pictures first -- ch. 26 On nonverisimilar pictures -- |
| Contents note continued: ch. 27 On inept and indecorous pictures -- ch. 28 On disproportionate pictures -- ch. 29 On imperfect pictures -- ch. 30 On vain and otiose pictures -- ch. 31 On ridiculous pictures -- ch. 32 On pictures that bring novelty and are unusual -- ch. 33 On pictures that are obscure and difficult to understand -- ch. 34 On indifferent and uncertain pictures -- ch. 35 On fierce, horrendous pictures -- ch. 36 On monstrous and prodigious pictures -- ch. 37 On the paintings called grotesques and whether in antiquity they were used only in underground places or also in buildings above ground -- ch. 38 Various opinions on the origin of paintings of grotesques -- ch. 39 Other reasons for the origin of grotesques and why they were called that -- ch. 40 The reason why grotesques have been so embraced by both ancients and moderns and have kept their name -- ch. 41 Grotesques are hardly suitable elsewhere today, and not at all in churches -- |
| Contents note continued: ch. 42 Response to various objections commonly adduced in defense of grotesques -- ch. 43 On pictures of the virtues and vices and the great difficulty in representing these -- ch. 44 A few guidelines for representing images of the vices and virtues -- ch. 45 On pictures of symbols -- ch. 46 On pictures in imprese -- ch. 47 On pictures of family arms -- ch. 48 Family arms are unsuitable in churches -- ch. 49 Why spiritual books may bear the name of the author, but family arms are unsuited to sacred pictures Responses to other counterarguments about coats of arms on sacred things -- ch. 50 On family arms set up in churches, relative to the intention of donors who affix them and relative lo the opinion that maybe formed by those who view them -- ch. 51 A few general warnings set down by authors to be observed in every picture so that it may satisfy everyone -- |
| Contents note continued: ch. 52 Conclusion on what we judge most necessary so that the things depicted will be commended by all -- PALEOTTI'S PROPOSED CONTENTS OF BOOKS 3 THROUGH 5 -- Table of Contents of Book 3 -- Table of Contents of Book 4 -- Table of Contents of Book 5. |
| Summary |
This is the first English translation of Gabriele Paleotti's 16th century treatise on the role of art in society. In the wake of the Counter-Reformation, Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti, the archbishop of Bologna, wrote a remarkable treatise on art during a time when the Church feared rampant abuse in the arts. Translated into English for the first time, Paleotti's "Discourse on Sacred and Profane Images" argues that art should address a broad audience and explains the painter's responsibility to his spectators. "The Discourse" is introduced by historian Paolo Prodi, who explains how - even if the archbishop did not succeed in reforming the arts - Paleotti's treatise constituted one last synthesis of art as a reading of creation and salvation history, and "sacred" art as a vehicle of devotion. |
| Donated by |
Meg Sheehan ; |
| Language note |
Translated from the Italian. |
| Subjects |
Art and religion -- Italy -- Early works to 1800 |
| Christian art and symbolism -- Italy -- Early works to 1800 |
| Christianity and art -- Catholic Church -- Early works to 1800 |
| Painting, Italian -- Themes, motives |
| Genre |
Early works. |
| Added Names |
McCuaig, William, 1949- translator |
| Prodi, Paolo. author of introduction |
