Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image before the Era of Art

by Hans Belting, Edmund Jephcott (Translation)

Before the Renaissance and Reformation, holy images were treated not as
"art" but as objects of veneration which possessed the tangible presence
of the Holy. In this magisterial book, Hans Belting traces the long
history of the sacral image and its changing role in European culture.
Likeness and Presence looks at the beliefs, superstitions, hopes,
and fears that come into play as people handle and respond to sacred
images, and presents a compelling interpretation of the place of the
image in Western history.

"A rarity within its genre—an art-historical analysis of iconography
which is itself iconoclastic. . . . One of the most intellectually
exciting and historically grounded interpretations of Christian
iconography." —Graham Howes, Times Literary Supplement

"Likeness and Presence offers the best source to survey the facts of
what European Christians put in their churches. . . . An impressively
detailed contextual analysis of medieval objects." —Robin Cormack,
New York Times Book Review

"I cannot begin to describe the richness or the imaginative grandeur of
Hans Belting's book. . . . It is a work that anyone interested in art,
or in the history of thought about art, should regard as urgent reading.
It is a tremendous achievement."—Arthur C. Danto, New Republic

Genres: Art, Art History, History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Religion, Cultural Studies

676 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Hans Belting is a German art historian and theorist of medieval and Renaissance art, as well as contemporary art and image theory.

He was born in Andernach, Germany, and studied at the universities of Mainz and Rome, and took his doctorate in art history at the University of Mainz. Subsequently he has held a fellowship at Dumbarton Oaks (Harvard University), Washington, D.C.

Reviews

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses on the history of the image in art. Byzantine art is an important part of this and one of the best sources for viewing the influence of Byzantine art is in the sacred mosaics of Ravenna Italy. They are the finest outside Istanbul. A thriving seaport in ancient times (it now lies five miles inland), Ravenna rose to power in the 1st century BC under the Emperor Augustus. The Roman emperor built a port and naval base at nearby Classe, which is currently undergoing archaeological excavation. The town converted to Christianity very early, in the 2nd century AD. As Rome's power declined, Ravenna took over as capital of the Western Empire (402 AD). The following century it came under the rule of Thedoric and the Arian Ostrogoths, and in 540 the city became part of the Byzantine empire under Justinian. Ravenna's exquisite early Christian mosaics span the years of Roman, Ostrogothic and Byzantine rule. Today, Ravenna is a very pleasant town of about 140,000. It looks much like any other Italian city at first glance, with old streets, fine shops and peaceful squares, but the Byzantine domes of its churches still evoke its Eastern heritage. Ravenna's early Christian churches and mosaics have been collectively designated a World Heritage Site.

With the fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 some of the artists fled to Crete and established a Greek artist colony. Notable artists included Michael Damaskenos (1530/35-1592/93) and others of the "Cretan School", but the most famous today is the artist simply known as El Greco (1451-1614). It is in his early work that the influence of icons is most evident, but it can be seen in his large-scale masterpieces produced in Spain later in his career. For more than two centuries Byzantine art was out of favor, primarily as a result of the Reformation, but in mid-nineteenth century France artists rediscovered Byzantine art and the Orient in general as can be seen in the work of Gustave Moreau and Jean Renoir. This influence spread throughout Europe and can be seen in the works of such diverse artists as Gustave Klimt (Austria, 1862 – 1918), and Theodore Ralli (Greece, 1852 – 1909). The influence grew into the twentieth century, particularly through the interest and work of Henri Matisse. The interest in Byzantine art has continued to grow and the field today includes scholars, best exemplified by the work of Hans Belting on the history of the Image, interested in a multitude of aspects of this classic tradition that had its roots in Rome and Egypt.

[Dimitris · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was deep, heavy stuff but so interesting!

[Sam Ruddick · Rating 4 out of 5]

very useful overview. had the feeling at times that belting either did not understand or did not respect the difference, in the catholic mind, between veneration and worship. although it may have been his purpose to debunk the idea that there is a difference, or to trace the historical origins/development of the theological need for such a distinction. something like that. anyway, parts of it dragged and i'm not sure that the overall argument was as interesting, insightful, or compelling as it thought it was, but ultimately i fucking loved this book. i mean, i know i just panned it, but it's like pointing out a "flaw" in bela lugosi's dracula. every frame of that film is great, even the fantastically silly ones. and at its very worst there was something informative on every page of this book. at its best, there was something beautiful and profound. as with all books that are considered foundational, this book's position as a cornerstone has been imposed on it after the fact, which unfortunately has a tendency to lead the reader to have unfair expectations. it's also so good through the front that it can't hope to live up to its promise throughout. at least it was for me: i was so new to art history when i picked it up that the first twenty or thirty pages blew my mind. so there was no way to sustain that. and i think as a catholic - even a non-practicing catholic - there were parts of it that rubbed me the wrong way, like he was saying we made up all this bullshit theology to justify worshipping pictures. which is maybe what happened, but one doesn't like to hear it said. and anyway, it's only sort of true. the evolution of catholic theology isn't really the subject of the book, but i did feel he was a bit dismissive about it. i mean, if the distinction between veneration and worship is an invented one, if it was invented to accommodate a pagan or primal need for an object of reverence, if it's basically a loophole to allow catholics to kneel before an image without committing the sin of idolatry, does it follow that the distinction is false? that people in the 5th and 6th centuries actually did not know the difference between an image of God and God? the argument seems specious to me, at best: over-simple and convenient for academic purposes, but maybe, just maybe, a little absurd. i mean, nobody's actually worshipping pictures, are they? and i find it difficult to believe that anyone, even fifteen hundred years ago, really believed that a wooden statue was alive.

then again... maybe. i don't know. i gotta say, hans has a point. i find a lot of shit difficult to believe and most of it ends up being true. like, i can't really believe that anyone is actually against gay marriage, but apparently there's a whole bunch of them out there. it blows my mind. i mean, i suppose if i were gay and married and, like, we were fighting about the silverware drawer and how he always mixes up the big spoons and the little spoons, then i could get pissed off about gay marriage, but since i'm not gay, i can't imagine giving a shit except to say of course gay people should be allowed to get married.

so it's possible i guess that people actually thought pictures were gods. anything's possible. including the distinction between veneration and worship.

[Kristján Hannesson]

A captivating exploration of the role of images, especially icons, in the Middle Ages. As often happens, the English translated title better captures the tenor of the book (likeness and, more importantly, presence) than the original, Bild und Kult. Until the great shift towards realism that occurs during the early Renaissance, images had a greater presence and potency than they ever have since. An icon is placed on city walls to shoo away an enemy army; it is paraded through the city in order to cleanse it of the plague; touching the icon may short circuit you to the divinity itself. As artists become more technically proficient in the 15th century and paintings acquire the illusionistic quality that inaugurates realism and naturalism, the image loses this magical immediacy. It becomes radically visual. The glass that covers paintings in modern museums is in one sense the fulfillment of the new kind of image that we call art.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book literally changed my life.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of essays exploring the origins of Christian icons amid the political and social maelstrom of late antique Rome and early Byzantium. Very enlightening to this non-art historian.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

super fascinating...and really dense, but worth it!

[Egor xS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fact after fact, datum after datum: art history degree zero. Although unavoidable to induce ultimate boredom, this dense, heavy volume is unbelievably kaleidoscopic.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read relevant chapters for my research. I will definitely revisit this book in the future.