Camille, Michael - The Gothic Idol: Ideology and Image-Making in Medieval Art

Cambridge / New York, Cambridge University Press, 1989. Softcover. Red, white pictorial wraps with black lettering, xxxii, 407 pp. bw illustrations throughout. "This book examines the theme of idol-worship in medieval art. Michael Camille reveals the ideological basis of paintings, statues, and manuscript illuminations that depicted the worship of false gods in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. By showing that images of idolatry stood for those outside the Church - pagans, Muslims, Jews, heretics, homosexuals - Camille sheds light on how medieval society viewed both alien 'others' and itself. He also links the abhorrence of worshiping false gods in images to an 'image-explosion' in the thriteenth century, when the Christian Church was filled with cult statues, miracle-working relics, and 'real' representations in the new Gothic style. The idea of idolatry was used to criticize some of the complex social changes of the period, especially those resulting from the increased secularization of society. Cult and magic images in royal propaganda are examined as are the conventions of courtly love, in which woman were represented on pedestals as objects of desire and simultaneously denigrated as idols of perversity in the eyes of the Church. In attempting to bring the Gothic image to life, Michael Camille shows how images can teach us about attitudes and beliefs in a particular society. His provocative book will be of interest not only to historians of medieval art, but to all scholars concerned with the way representations operate as tools of communication in society." - blurb from back of book. G+ (bend in bottom front corner of cover, previous owner's inscription on title page, minimal shelf wear, all pages clear and intact) .

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