DOC Vanities of the Eye: Vision in Early Modern European Culture by Stuart Clark in Arts-Photography

Description

Vanities of the Eye investigates the cultural history of the senses in early modern Europe; a time in which the nature and reliability of human vision was the focus of much debate. In medicine; art theory; science; religion; and philosophy; sight came to be characterized as uncertain or paradoxical--mental images no longer resembled the external world. Was seeing really believing? Stuart Clark explores the controversial debates of the time--from the fantasies and hallucinations of melancholia; to the illusions of magic; art; demonic deceptions; and witchcraft. The truth and function of religious images and the authenticity of miracles and visions were also questioned with new vigor; affecting such contemporary works as Macbeth-- a play deeply concerned with the dangers of visual illusion. Clark also contends that there was a close connection between these debates and the ways in which philosophers such as Descartes and Hobbes developed new theories on the relationship between the real and virtual. Original; highly accessible; and a major contribution to our understanding of European culture; Vanities of the Eye will be of great interest to a wide range of historians and anyone interested in the true nature of seeing.