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Drawing on the Bible: Biblical Women in Art
Beth K. Haber
(New York: Biblio Press, 1995), 127 pp., 38 b&w illus., $14.95
Ever since the printing press was invented in the 15th century, engravers have repeatedly turned to the Bible for inspiration—creating their own prints of biblical scenes and, in the days before photography, making relatively inexpensive black-and-white copies of famous paintings available to a wide audience. In this slim volume, writer and artist Beth Haber explores the treatment of 14 biblical women—from Eve to Esther—in engravings. The selected images range from the early Renaissance work of German artists Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein to prints by the Austrian Zionist Ephraim Moses Lilien, a 20th-century proponent of Art Nouveau. Quotations from the Bible, Haber’s meandering commentaries on the Biblical texts and her more precise descriptions of the images accompany each print.
The Devil—The Archfiend in Art from the Sixth to the Sixteenth Century
Luther Link
(New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996) 192 pp., 19 color and 58 b&w illus., $29.95
For the past 100 years, the devil has generally been depicted as a bearded creature with horns, tail and pitchfork. But the devil hasn’t always looked the way he does on tins of Underwood deviled meat: In fact, he is one of the most versatile biblical figures—appearing in art throughout the centuries as a grotesque monster, a fallen angel, a bloated cannibal, a fire-breathing dragon or a playful imp. Luther Link looks to the New Testament, the writings of the early Church fathers, the poetry of Milton, Blake and Baudelaire, as well as manuscript illuminations, wall frescoes, ivories and tapestries, in this examination of the Prince of Darkness’s many guises.
The Art of Devotion in the Late Middle Ages in Europe
Henk van Os
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 1994) 192 pp., 46 color and 78 b&w illus., $52.50
Art began to play an increasingly important role in private prayer during the 14th century, when monks placed ivories of the Virgin Mary in their cells, noblemen traveled with small altarpieces depicting scenes from Jesus’ life, and wealthy women commissioned illustrated prayerbooks, often including portraits of themselves alongside biblical figures. They gazed at these vivid images as they prayed and meditated in their own homes.
Splendid full-page photos of several medieval paintings, prints and sculptures made for private worship fill The Art of Devotion, the catalogue from a recent exhibition at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. Van Os and other essayists consider what the objects themselves reveal about how they were used and by whom.
Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture
Jaroslav Pelikan
(New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 1996), 224 pp., 16 color and 17 b&w illus., $25.00
“The Virgin Mary,” writes Pelikan, “has been more of an inspiration to more people than any other woman who ever lived.” In this comprehensive study, Pelikan considers how Jesus’ mother has been understood throughout the centuries. To evaluate Mary’s role in political and social history, Pelikan explores her presence in the Bible, literature, music, art and even miraculous apparitions. He examines the role she played in antiquity, how the eastern church has viewed her, how she has affected the Catholic view of sexuality and how the Reformation rejection of her worship allowed her to become a model of faith for Protestants.
Drawing on the Bible: Biblical Women in Art
