Women of the Bible: from text to image

Abstract

"The Hebrew Bible and art reside at the core of this book, which analyzes the iconographic representation of several women of the Bible. The contributors consider the ways in which the biblical texts regarding these women had been read and understood throughout time and the means by which they were represented. Each study also explores the different values associated with these representations according to the problems, worries and concerns of each period. Drawing upon disciplines such as theology, philology or history of art, the essays within this volume provide a cross-sectional, plural and rich approach. In focusing upon iconographic representation, numerous visual cultures of the last millennium are explored, and special emphasis is placed upon several integral biblical women such as Bathsheba, Moses' mother, the Pharaoh's Daughter, Ruth, Naomi and Deborah, and their lasting influence upon Western art and culture. This book pursues an understanding of the history of the transmission and reception of the Bible in general, and of the women of the Old Testament in particular."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Bible, art and women: criteria for analysis and critical interpretation / Carmen Yebra-Rovire -- The iconographic representation of the Bible: the interaction between text and image / Guadalupe Seijas -- Bathsheba in medieval manuscripts: visual analysis of a controversial Old Testament woman / Mónica Ann Walker Vadillo -- Strong women of the Bible and their persistence in seventeenth-century Spanish painting / Amparo Alba Cecilia, Guadalupe Seijas -- Moses's mother and her literary and visual reception in the nineteenth century / Carmen Yebra-Rovira -- The women in the Book of Judges and their representation in nineteenth-century engravings / Carmen Yebra-Rovira -- Ruth and Naomi: a story of friendship in images / Guadalupe Seijas.