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Johannes Molanus: Traite des saintes images, introd., trans., and ed. Francois Boespflug, Olivier Christin, and Benoit Tassel, Patrimoines Christianisme (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1996). 2 vols. 669 pp. + II figures; 465 pp. + 84 figures. ISBNs 2-204-05370-8; 2-204-005 587-5. F. Fr. 290.00; F. Fr. 400.00.
As art historians have turned their attention from the production to the reception and function of works of art in particular contexts, the history of attitudes towards images has become a significant subject in its own right. In this relatively novel area of interdisciplinary research, De historia SS. imaginum et pictararum pro vero earum us/w contra abusus by Jean Vermeulen, better known simply as Molanus (1533-85), has a secure place. Molanus' treatise - a retort to the claims of iconoclasts - was first printed in 1570, only six years after the conclusion of the Council of Trent. This modern edition (based on the revised version of 1594), accompanied by the first translation into a modern language, is preceded by a wide-ranging introduction which treats the work's relation to the Council, the author's life and theological writings, the text's bibliographical history, and its content, doctrine, and...