Veronica and Her Cloth: History, Symbolism, and Structure of a True Image [Hardcover]

Ewa Kuryluk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1991

This volume is a study of the portrait of Christ that was said to have been obtained directly from Jesus's face by Veronica, a medieval saint. The book recounts the history of the legend, and the place that it has occupied in Western and Byzantine art. The book attempts to draw symbolic parallels between the blood on Jesus's face by which the portrait was obtained, and the doctrine of incarnation and menstrual blood and procreation. It seeks to bring a feminist slant to the criticism of the iconography.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Applying methods from anthropology, comparative religion, structuralism, and psychoanalysis to art history, Kuryluk explores the iconography surrounding the "true likeness" of Christ. Starting with the stories of St. Veronica, who received an image in her handkerchief, and the legends of the healing cloth image given to Abgar of Edessa, Kuryluk traces the representation of Christ and Veronica through early Byzantine and Western art. She makes a compelling case for an underlying complex of reciprocal symbols between the bleeding Christ, healed by a woman, and the bleeding woman (Hemorrhissa) healed by Christ, pointing to mirror relationships between body/spirit, pollution/purity, image/word. An important, provocative work.
- T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, Ga.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Blackwell Pub; First Edition edition (April 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631178139
• ISBN-13: 978-0631178132
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,991,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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