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Journal > Volumes > 48 (2017) / 1 (Spring)
Saints in Parts: Image of the Sacred Body in an Early Modern Venetian Town
Milena Ulčar
University of Belgrade

This paper suggests complexity of the perception of the body in Post-Tridentine Catholic sphere through the comparative study of reliquaries from St. Tryphon’s cathedral in Kotor. The focus will be placed on the examples created between fifteenth and seventeenth century. The change that occurred in the particular elements of the silver body-part reliquaries suggests that the image of the sacred body acquired a different appearance. Purified of precious stones, decorative ribbons, and knightly armors, it began to resemble, to a much greater degree, the body of the observer. This new visibility may rather seductively suggest liberation or at least a different kind of intimacy between Heaven and Earth. On the other hand, it was the years after the Reformation that were labeled as an age of articulation and regulation of this relationship.

Pages: 67 - 86