Description
Book SynopsisAccording to legend, the Mandylion was an image of Christ’s face imprinted on a towel, kept in Edessa. This acheiopoieton image (“not made by human hands”) disappeared in the eighteenth century. The first records of another acheiropoieton relic appeared in mid-fourteenth century France: a long linen bearing the image of Jesus’ corpse, known nowadays as the Holy Shroud of Turin. Some believe the Mandylion and the Shroud to be the same object, first kept in Edessa, later translated to Constantinople, France and Italy. Andrea Nicolotti traces back the legend of the Edessean image in history and art, focusing especially on elements that could prove its identity with the Shroud, concluding that the Mandylion and the Shroud are two distinct objects.
Trade Review"...Nicolotti has convincingly and methodically shown that throughout the textual and visual accounts, the Shroud and the Mandylion are two distinct objects... this book will be useful for anyone interested in miraculous images, the evolution of the image of Christ, and how legends transform over time." Anna Russakoff (American University of Paris), The Medieval Review, 15/10 (2015) "...The author interacts thoroughly with the primary sources. His argument is easy to follow and the chapters and themes are well organized. The author’s work is also prevalent in the highly detailed footnotes which give considerable amounts of beneficial details especially for scholars who are interested in the development of the Mandylion. In general, the presentation of the material flows well and the author’s points are made clear. Even though the Mandylion is highly discussed and how the Mandylion is not the Shroud of Turin, one is left with questions on the origins and the history of the Shroud of Turin. The second volume of Nicolotti’s work discusses at length the Turinese Shroud. If the first volume is any indication to what to look forward to, there are high hopes for his second volume." Najeeb Haddad (Loyola University Chicago), Annali di storia dell'esegesi, 32/2 (2015)
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ix List of Illustrations xi 1 Introduction 1 2 Origins and Traditions 7 King Abgar and the Origins of the Legend 7 The Apparition of the Image in Edessa 9 The Development of Traditions about the Image 12 The Siege of Edessa 14 A Later Genesis? 17 An Older Genesis? 18 Silence in Syria and Traditions in Armenia 22 The Iconoclastic Era 26 3 Shifting Perspectives? 29 Acts of Thaddaeus 29 The Term tetradiplon and the Reliquary of the Image 34 The Question of the Folds 39 The Letter of the Three Patriarchs and Jesus’ Height 47 4 The Translation of the Image of Edessa 53 Gregory Referendarius and the Translation of the Image 53 The Narratio de Imagine Edessena 66 The Keramion 72 The Edessean Cult of the Image 77 The Synaxarium 80 The Liturgical Odes 84 5 The Mandylion in Constantinople 89 The Name “Mandylion” 89 Persistence of Converging and Diffferent Traditions 91 An Elusive Vision 96 The Preservation of the Mandylion in Byzantium 99 The Revolt of the Palace 106 Robert de Clari 109 Latin Sermon 112 6 An Overview of Iconography 120 The Holy Face of Lucca 120 Orderic Vitalis 126 Iconography of the Mandylion 128 Flowers or Holes? 148 Miniatures of the Mandylion 152 The Georgian Icon of Ancha 159 The Madrid’s Skylitzes 162 A Russian Icon 170 Byzantine Coins 173 Two Copies of the Mandylion of Edessa 182 The End 188 The Sainte-Chapelle in Paris and the Disappearance of the Mandylion 188 Conclusions 202 Index of Names 205
