Customer Reviews

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

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As an art historian, I have greatly enjoyed this book and have nothing but acclaim for both its content and its style. As a practicing Roman Catholic, though, I have found many passages to be very upsetting and hard to swallow. And if you are primarily interested in religion, and not in history of art, i.e. if you are not willing or able to read this with proper scholarly disengagement (and even more so if your knowledge of history doesn't allow you to form your own opinions), I wouldn't recommend that you ever read this work, admirable as it may be. From the Catholic point of view, this is a highly controversial book, presenting many thoughts and arguments that you should either be well-equipped to wrestle with, or better not expose yourself to.

Also, if you have more languages at your disposal, and are reading this for academic purposes, you may want to compare the text of this English edition to both the French translation and the German original. I have found that the three versions vary significantly in several important places.

Finally, if you are interested in the acheiropoieta, you should be warned that, though the book does dedicate lengthy passages to that specific group of images, it only mentions the Shroud of Turin once. And here's how:
'Only the Shroud of Turin, whose lost original was apparently already venerated in Byzantium as Christ's burial cloth, though it is the imprint of a dead man, comes close to this fictitious imprint of the living Christ.'
This, I believe, is the book's weakest point.

One of the first art historians to take a look at art in its context and according to its function. It's a great read for those interested in art, culture and religion.

I find this book of Hans Belting an authorized work and a remarkable profound study in its field. I think this book is very inspiring to understand what images make on us.

I am very grateful for your help. It was very easy to purchase through your service. Many many thanks
Pedro