Manuel Chrysoloras on the Imagination & Art

03/02/13 2:30 AMLogismoi: Manuel Chrysoloras on the Imagination & Art

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18 AUGUST 2009

Manuel Chrysoloras on the Imagination & Art

I’m dealing with questionsabout the imagination inmy thesis, and I thoughtthis was an interestingstatement by ManuelChrysoloras (1355-1415),‘the first man to giveregular lectures on Greekin Italy’ (L.D. Reynolds andN.G. Wilson, Scribes &Scholars: A Guide to theTransmission of Greek &Latin Literature, 2nd ed.(Oxford: Oxford U, 1974),p. 131. Writing from Romein 1411, Chrysolorasanswers the question,‘What is the reason weadmire an artisticrepresentation more thanthe thing itself?’ (Epist. 3.,PG 156, 57; in Cyril Mango,trans., The Art of the

Byzantine Empire, 312-1453: Sources and Documents [Englewood Cliffs,NY: Prentice Hall, 1972], p. 255):

‘It is that in images we are admiring the beauty not of bodies,

but of the maker’s mind. For, as it happens with well-molded

wax, he receives through his eyes an image (typos) onto the

imaginative part of his soul (to phantastikon tês psychês)

and then imprints it on stone, wood, bronze or on pigments;

for just as every man’s soul disposes its body (which has many

weaknesses) in such a way that its disposition—be it sorrow,

joy or anger—is visible in the body; so does the artist by

means of artful simulation fashion the stubborn and hard

substance of stone, bronze or pigments—a substance that is

alien and unrelated—and makes the emotions of the soul

visible in these [materials].’

Posted by Aaron Taylor at 5:58 PM

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5 comments:

St. Matthew the Apostle Orthodox Church said...

I'm fairly new to your blog and would take great delight in

reading more on this theme. Imagination is a term freighted

with so much baggage - often dismissed as delusion/prelest, in

line with certain OT prophetic notions of the "imagination of

the heart." And yet, it may also be related to notions of

sanctified vision - apprehending the cosmos rightly. Perhaps

that resonates with Chrysolaras' notion of perceiving the mind

of the Maker with the imaginative part of the soul. I've

occasionally heard Fr Anthony Ugolnik touch on this theme.

And also the Methodist NT scholar Richard Hays. God bless

you in your work!

August 20, 2009 at 8:53 AM

aaronandbrighid said...

Sorry, St Matthew (if that IS your real name!), I'm really busy

this week. But I haven't forgotten you and I'm planning to

respond!

August 20, 2009 at 11:58 PM


Please forgive my anonymity - our church website is done

through blogger, so the church name shows up on our google

account. I'm indebted to my Duke classmate Lee Webb for

introducing me to your site, which is a great joy to peruse.

In Christ's Peace,

Fr Mark

August 21, 2009 at 12:39 PM

aaronandbrighid said...

Bless, Father,

Glad to have a name! Thank you for your kind words. Lee's a

good friend, and it's good to find out we share him.

I'll put up a little chapter from my thesis on the imagination

soon (maybe the next couple of weeks), so hopefully that will

satisfy you! In short, I agree that imagination should not be

simply identified with delusion or prelest. It's important to note

that the Fathers merely say that it can be used for this purpose,

but that it can also be used for innocuous purposes like solving

problems or creating things. I do think that as Orthodox we

have to be careful not to follow the Romantic tendency to deify

the imagination, associating it directly with the imago dei or

celebrating it as some kind of higher spiritual faculty. The clear

sense one gets from the Fathers is that it is a mental tool, and



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one that is unfortunately easy prey for temptation and

deception.

I know Fr Ugolnik's work, but I'd be very interested in

following up on anything Hays has to say about imagination.

I've read a bit of his Moral Vision of the NT (and posted on it

here as well!), and I'd love to acquire a copy and read it

through!

Kissing Your Right Hand,

Aaron

August 22, 2009 at 3:05 PM


I was privileged to be in one of Prof. Hays' classes while he was

working on Moral Vision. It's probably been a decade since I've

picked up my copy, but it is a rich study worthy of reflection.

His earlier work, Echoes of Scripture, is magnificent.

I see that he's recently published a collection of essays entitled

"Conversion of the Imagination;" parts are available on google

books. And it's fascinating that in the introduction he cites

Origen's concern with the "remaking of the minds" of Gentile

converts so that they could apprehend Israel's Scriptures as

their own.

I appreciate your admonition regarding Romanticism; I think

that's a dangerous trap for some converts to Orthodoxy who

have walked a particular pathway through Anglo-Catholicism (I

know this from my own stumblings). And looking forward to

seeing some of your thesis! - Fr Mark

August 24, 2009 at 10:14 AM



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