Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Some understanding of what it means “to see” underlies any concept of art. In recent years it has been argued, however, that sight is not the immutable and ahistoric sense that it was once understood to be. Rather, as “visuality,” it has a history. This chapter will examine some of the ways that conceptions of vision and visuality have shaped and driven scholarship on medieval art. Before beginning, it should be noted that vision has two distinct meanings in medieval art, both important to our purposes here. The first concerns the theological, scientific, and cultural understanding of the means and possibilities of sight or the gaze. The second meaning, related, but often treated quite separately, concerns mental and revelatory or nightmarish experiences. These visions are important theologically and culturally, but are only a subset of an understanding of the more abstract issue of the meaning of vision. An intriguing starting point for the understanding of vision derives from its negation. That is, in a recent book, Moshe Barasch has treated the “mental image” of blindness. Just as vision has a history, so too does blindness – one which illuminates some of the issues that will concern us in discussing sight. Barasch clarifies that blindness in antiquity might be a physical failing but also could represent special qualities of vision, as for example, those of a “seer”; ... log in or subscribe to read full text