Angels, Devils
The Supernatural and Its Visual Representation

Edited by Gerhard Jaritz, Central European University

Supernatural phenomena and causalities played an important role in medieval society. Religious practice was relying upon a set of cult images and the sacral status of these depictions of divine or supernatural persons became the object of heated debates and provoked iconoclastic reactions.

The miraculous intervention of saints or other divine agents, the wondrous realities beyond understanding, or the manifestations of magic attributed to diabolic forces, were contained by a variety of discourses, described and discussed in religion, philosophy, chronicles, literature and fiction, and also in a large number of pictures and material objects. The nine essays in this collection discusses how supernatural phenomena – especially angels and devils – found visual manifestation in Latin and Eastern Christianity as well as Judaism in the late medieval, early renaissance period.

Contents
List of Illustrations Preface Norbert Schnitzler, The Beam of Grace and the Ocular Paradigm. Some Remarks on the Relation between Late Medieval Theology and Art Gerhard Jaritz, Visual Images of the Supernatural in the Late Middle Ages, or, How to Make the Entities Recognizable that Are not Part of Our Natural World Alexander E. Makhov, … In diversas figuras nequitiae: The Devil’s Image from the Viewpoint of Rhetoric Helmut Hundsbichler, Devils in Visual Proximity Béla Zsolt Szakács, Supernatural Figures Incognito Maria Crăciun, Guardians or Avengers? Depictions of Angels in Transylvanian Altarpieces from the Late Medieval Period Zsófia Buda, Heavenly Envoys: Angels in Jewish Art György E. Szőnyi, The Reincarnations of Enoch from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance Anna Maria Gruia, Images to Influence the Supernatural: Apotropaic Representations on Medieval Stove Tiles List of Contributors Index

2011
216 pages, 90 illustrations
ISBN 978-615-5053-21-4 cloth $40.00 / €35.00 / £30.00