Description
Book SynopsisDuring the Middle Ages, the head of St John the Baptist was widely venerated. According to the biblical text, John was beheaded at the order of Herod’s stepdaughter, who is traditionally given the name Salome. His head was later found in Jerusalem. Legends concerning the discovery of this relic form the basis of an iconographic type in which the head of St John the Baptist is represented as an “object.” The phenomenon of the Johannesschüssel is the subject of this essay. Little is known about how exactly these objects functioned. How are we to understand this fascination with horror, death and decapitation? What phantasms does the artifact channel? The present study offers the unique key to the Johannesschüssel as artifact, phenomenon, phantasm and medium.
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ...xi Copyrights ...xix Acknowledgements ...xxiii Prologue ...1 1.The narrative ...9 2.The relics ...22 3.The genesis of an artifact ...45 4.The liturgical calendar: performative acts and therapy ...61 5.The sacramental context: water and blood ...83 6.The Andachtsbild: the gaze and the senses ...105 7.The Medusa efffect ...130 8.Skull cult ...143 9.Sacrifijice and dance ...153 10.In utroque: genealogy and foundation ...166 11.In utroque: head and face...184 12.The executioner’s arm: painting as blood ...205 13.Epilogue: Nachleben ...211 Bibliography ...225 Index ...247
