Figures of Presence and Absence: An Introduction to the French Dispute about Sacred Images and the Role of Art in the Life of the Church in the Early Modern Period(4 Kunst und Konfession in der Frühen Neuzeit)

An introduction to the dispute about religious art conducted in France from the beginning of the sixteenth century until the end of the eighteenth century. The debate involved not only Catholic and Protestant theologians, but also lay writers who tried to replace dogmatic Christianity with the ‘religion of reason’ invented by the philosophes. A recurrent theme in the majority of statements in this discussion is a contention that religious images must not be perceived as ‘portraits of God’, but that they should be seen merely as ‘separated signs’, detached from their invisible prototype; signs that only remind the faithful about God. French writers favoured restraint in shaping paintings and sculptures, fearing that otherwise works of art might excessively fascinate viewers with their sophisticated appearance, or might too profoundly move the emotions of the faithful. Christianity was for these writers above all a religion of the Word, and they considered images merely as a pastoral aid intended for ‘simpletons’ who either could not read or were unable to grasp the teachings of the catechism or the message of simple homilies. So, these writers approached religious art with reservations. Yielding to the above theoretical assumptions, the makers of religious art in seventeenth-century France achieved a high level of workmanship, characterized by noble simplicity and purity, only to succumb to the banality of schematic solutions in the following century, as they were unwilling to exert themselves in a domain that was becoming increasingly disregarded by the elites.

Table of Contents:
Introduction    1.   An Outline of the History of the Church in France in the Early Modern Period    2.   Pierre Viret, Jean Crespin, Gabriel de Saconay, Richard Verstegan, Claude de Sainctes and the Protestant-Catholic War on Images in the Sixteenth Century    3.   Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples, Josse Clichtove, Guillaume Morel, René Benoist and Jean de Tillet: A Return to the Dispute about Sacred Art Conducted in the Patristic Era    4.   John Calvin and his Criticism of False Images of the Hidden God and of the Sumptuous Artistic Setting of His Spiritual Worship    5.   Jacques Davy Duperron, Louis Richeôme and Jean Crasset:The Defenders and Promoters of the Jesuit ‘Iconophilia’    6.   Francis of Sales and his Apology of Images as ‘Separated Signs’ which Remind the Faithful about ‘the Most Holy Mysteries of the Faith’    7.   Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, Jacqueline-Marie-Angélique Arnauld, Antoine Arnauld and the Jansenist Interpretation of Sacred Images as ‘Separated Signs’    8.   Blaise Pascal, Robert Arnauld d’Andilly and Jean Racine: Lay Jansenists as Critics of the ‘Lust of the Eyes’ and of the Images that Excite it    9.   Philippe de Champaigne and Martin de Barcos: A Jansenist Ideal of the Christian Artist    10.   Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé: Should Monks Possess Paintings and Splendid Churches?    11.   Pierre Jurieu, Jacques Benigne Bossuet, Bernard de Montfaucon, Jean Baptiste Massillon and Antoine August Calmet: A Dispute about the Catholic Veneration of Images versus Deliberations on the Idolatry in the Religious Studies and Theology in the Age of Reason    12.   André François Boureau-Deslandes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jean le Rond d’Alembert, Voltaire and Denis Diderot: A Deistic Disparagement of the Christian Dispute about the Veneration of Images