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Bissera Pentcheva. The Sensual Icon: Space, Ritual and the Senses in Byzantium. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010. Pp.320. ISBN: 978-0-271-03584-0. $84.95.
We do not tend to think of sensuality when we think of Byzantium and her holy icons. The Sensual Icon presents another Byzantium, one in which icons are highly animated, where they appeal to the human senses, not only through sight but also through touch, smell, taste, and sound, thereby "arousing an internal agitation" (1). The icon performs for the observer. It challenges the traditional understanding of static paintings on wooden boards; icons were much more than this, the Eucharist itself, says the author, was an "icon," so too were images imprinted on stone. By the ninth century, the relief icon became the "privileged image," it was made of mixed-media (gold, silver, or gem stones for instance), which notably interacted with the shifting light of flickering candles. Previous scholarship has not sufficiently appreciated the importance of the mixed-media icon: in this period the metal icon was elevated to the ideal form of art, rendering pictorial naturalism subordinate (14). When reading Bissera Pentcheva's tantalising descriptions of the sensual icon and its saturation of the senses, the reader finds himself longing to experience the holy icons of Byzantium.
The work provides a detailed thematic analysis into the concept and the form of the icon. It is arranged chronologically from the early history of Christianity until approximately the eleventh century. Considering the long time frame, Pentcheva maintains a depth in her analysis, and in fact each chapter could stand alone as an article. Initially, the icon was the representation or manifestation of the Holy Spirit in matter. Thus the Stylites of Syria were perfect examples, as the Holy Spirit was imbued in their flesh. The vita of Saint Daniel the Stylite (409-493) reveals that after death he was bound to a plank and exhibited as an icon (57). Indeed, the stench of the column-saints was part of the sensual experience. The Eucharist itself was also an icon, for the Holy Spirit was invested into substance and ingested: spiritual representation could be tasted (43). Later, this included the performance of the liturgy within the space of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople's majestic basilica dedicated to the Holy...