Visual typology in early modern Europe: continuity and expansion

Abstract

This is the first study that examines the varied manifestations of typological thinking in diverse media of the visual arts from the Late Middle Ages through the seventeenth century in Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, and France. It counteracts the underlying misconception that typology was in decline or even ceased to exist in the sixteenth century. This volume offers new interpretations that redefine what is meant by typological thinking in the early modern period. Typological thinking informs traditional pre-figurations, as well as more broadly associative interconnections between the Old Testament, classical texts, and even natural history, in relation to the New Testament. Typological thought permeates religious and secular visual culture during the period under consideration and this collection of essays reveals the continuing relevance and expansion of typological patterns for the visual arts, with particular emphasis on innovations in the sixteenth century. In the course of the sixteenth century typology became more complex and flexible, and came under the influence of the writings of Protestant and Catholic reformers, and also derived new secular and political analogies. --