This pioneering study focuses on the decisive contributions of the three leading artists of the Northern Renaissance--Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder, and Hans Holbein the Younger-- to the printed Bible and to the transformation of ecclesiastical art in the Protestant Reformation. A time of artistic and theological revolution, the Renaissance and Reformation also witnessed a visual reformation of the Bible. In David H. Price's new
interpretation, these artists emerge as major reformers in their own right who created a dynamic and innovative visual culture of biblicism. In the Beginning Was the Image explicitly addresses a key paradox
of the Bible's new cultural status: as divergent Bible editions and translations shattered the unity of Christianity, new artistic approaches arose to accommodate theological and textual diversity. Rulers and theologians produced new Bibles as foundations for transformative socio-political movements, and their success, according to Price's compelling research, depended on the inventiveness and creativity of these artists. Written in a style designed to be accessible to a
broad range of readers, Price's richly nuanced study explores the art of Dürer, Cranach, and Holbein and the biblical iconographies they developed to connect the new biblicism to faith and political
authority.
This pioneering study focuses on the decisive contributions of the three leading artists of the Northern Renaissance--Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder, and Hans Holbein the Younger-- to the printed Bible and to the transformation of ecclesiastical art in the Protestant Reformation. A time of artistic and theological revolution, the Renaissance and Reformation also witnessed a visual reformation of the Bible. In David H. Price's new
interpretation, these artists emerge as major reformers in their own right who created a dynamic and innovative visual culture of biblicism. In the Beginning Was the Image explicitly addresses a key paradox
of the Bible's new cultural status: as divergent Bible editions and translations shattered the unity of Christianity, new artistic approaches arose to accommodate theological and textual diversity. Rulers and theologians produced new Bibles as foundations for transformative socio-political movements, and their success, according to Price's compelling research, depended on the inventiveness and creativity of these artists. Written in a style designed to be accessible to a
broad range of readers, Price's richly nuanced study explores the art of Dürer, Cranach, and Holbein and the biblical iconographies they developed to connect the new biblicism to faith and political
authority.
1. In the Beginning Was the Image: Art and the Renaissance of the
Bible
2. The Artist as Biblical Humanist
3. The Artist as Reformer
4. Dürer's Reformation: Art and Politics of Biblicism
5. Word Made Image: Cranach's Biblical Iconography
6. Holbein and the Art of the Heterogeneous Bible
7. Epilogue:
David H. Price is Professor of Jewish Studies, Religious Studies,
History, and Art History at Vanderbilt University, where he
specializes in early modern European history. He has written
extensively on a broad range of topics, including Renaissance
visual art, early modern literature, the Bible in the Reformation
era, Christian-Jewish relations, and the history of books and
printing.
He is also the author of Johannes Reuchlin and the Campaign to
Destroy Jewish Books.
"It is most unusual to find, in one and the same book, sensitive
and learned art history, profound knowledge of biblical
scholarship, and a nuanced understanding of the Reformation era.
Yet that is what David Price presents here. He knows Cranach,
Dürer, and Holbein like few other scholars: yet his awareness of
how these figures interacted with their contexts makes this book a
special joy to read." -- Euan K Cameron, Union Theological
Seminary
"David Price's new study is a tremendous achievement, offering new
perspectives and radical differentiations that will change our
understanding of this complex and much-studied period. Although the
Renaissance is associated with the rediscovery of classical (pagan)
culture, this groundbreaking new book shows DL through
theoretically profound and enlightening analyses of major works of
art DL the transformative role played by biblical philology
inÂthe
Renaissance and Reformation." -- Dr. Anne-Marie Bonnet, Institute
of Art History, Friedrichs-Wilhelm-Universität
"Indeed, this subtle analysis of word and image in Reformation-era
German art does truly center on, and thoughtfully elucidates, the
major printed biblical art by these principal masters. Price,
already the author ofÂAlbrecht Dürer's Renaissance, has now added
Lucas Cranach and Hans Holbein to his repertoire in this book,
which will become a touchstone for both scholars and laity alike."
-- Larry Silver, Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania
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