Discussion Questions about Popular Piety and Modes of Visual Perception, St. Francis’ Body as Image, and Embodied Perception
- What are the reasons for the neglect of images in the 15th and 16th centuries according to Scribner?
- What is the role of the viewer vis a vis the Trout woodcut?
- Why is the IHS woodcut an all-purpose devotional aid?
- What are the characteristics of active images?
- What does Scribner mean by the sacramental gaze?
- How did the discoveries of Roger Bacon and Alberti impact contemporaries ways of seeing?
- What does the author mean by the sanctifying gaze?
- What is Belting’s formula for the transmission of images? Do you agree with him?
- In what way is St. Francis a “re-embodied” image of God?
- What were the challenges facing visual artists in depicting St. Francis?
- Discuss the idea of image as incorporation.
- Why are the wounds of St. Francis images in two respects?
- What is the iconization of the body and does it hurt?
- Was the body viewed as a pictorial medium?
- Do you think the rays emanating from the wounds of the seraph to St. Francis reflect contemporary optical theory?
- What are carnal formulae in Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of art?
- How does Merleau-Ponty’s apprehension of meaning differ from say that outlined in the Ad. Heren.?
- How does Merleau-Ponty define an artist?
- In what way does art have social consequences?
- What is the relationship of art to perception according to Merleau-Ponty?
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