Animation between Magic, Miracles and Mechanics

Natural and Supernatural Principles of Life in Medieval Imagery

Henning Laugerud author Laura Katrine Skinnebach author Hans Henrik Lohfert Jørgensen author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Aarhus University Press

Published:15th Aug '24

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Animation between Magic, Miracles and Mechanics cover

“Animation” implies that the image or figural object is alive, endowed with anima: a “soul”, “spirit” or “vital principle.” In the Middle Ages, holy or emphatically unholy imagery often possessed an ability to come to life, to act and do things, to move and gesticulate, to speak and exude. This “life” might be a result of natural or supernatural principles; it might be a work of magic, a work of mechanics or a miracle (a divine work). This book is about the different modes of animation that made medieval images perform their spectacular wonders of locomotion and physical transformation, ranging from mechanical machinery to magical conjuration and miraculous ensoulment. Talking and bleeding crucifixes are investigated alongside robot Redeemers, weeping Madonnas, automated devils and self-propelled statues – “statuas animatas” – that enacted their visible and audible animations in monasteries and churches, in historical technologies and treatises, in theurgical tales and demonologies. With its confessed reinvigoration of animism, this book will animate anyone with an interest in medieval art and art history, culture, ideas, religion, anthropology, philosophy and theology.

ISBN: 9788772196534

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

295 pages