Images of miraculous healing in the early modern Netherlands

Abstract

"Images of Miraculous Healing in the Early Modern Netherlands explores the ways in which paintings and prints of biblical miracles shaped viewers' approaches to physical and sensory impairments and bolstered their belief in supernatural healing and charitable behavior. Drawing upon a vast range of sources, Kaminska demonstrates that visual imagery held a central place in premodern disability discourses, and that the exegesis of New Testament miracle stories determined key attitudes toward the sick and the poor. Addressed to middle-class collectors, many of the images analyzed in this study have hitherto been neglected by art historians"--Back of cover.

Contents

Introduction : understanding miracles, compassion, and disability -- Christus medicus and beyond : the thaumaturgic power of Christ and medical metaphors in the premodern Netherlands -- "I was sick and you visited me" : medical assistance and the Seven works of mercy -- Healing the blind : images of visual impairment in the early modern Low Countries -- Healing the lame : biblical miracles and mobility impairment in the early modern Netherlands -- Healing the multitudes : miraculous healing beyond visual and motor impairments -- Epilogue, or who is worthy of healing and why it matters.