In this paper, we present the narrative role of small jet figures linked to pilgrims' attire within the sacred ecosystem of the Camino de Santiago. Beyond their function as identifiers and circulatory devices, such as amulets or pilgrimage souvenirs, these portable images served as visual devices that condensed and projected the spiritual experience of the journey and, therefore, as devotional objects with symbolic, personal and ritual uses. These objects were intended to be sewn or attached to clothing or hats, or to be hung. This contribution, which also briefly addresses antecedents and influences, fundamentally explores their production and uses, their relationship with other objects of the Way, and their presence in portraits, inventories, and literary or artistic testimonies that tell us about their bearers. Despite being mass-produced objects, as attested to in guild documentation, the archaeological record is still very scarce, but it allows us to confirm a use linked to both genders and to better understand their context and functionality. The small number of known examples and their dating based mainly on stylistic criteria still make precise dating difficult. Today, jet and the Camino follow divergent paths. Over time, these objects have undergone a process of reinterpretation, losing their purely devotional or apotropaic character.
The Great Arsenic is an audiovisual allegory inspired by the Flemish sacred painting tradition of the 15th to 16th centuries, particularly The Temptations of Saint Anthony by Pieter Huys, with echoes of Bosch and Beccafumi. Drawing on this iconographic archive, Albert Merino constructs a visual universe that deactivates the moralizing dimension of sacred images and reconfigures them from a contemporary, critical, and non-normative perspective. The article analyzes how the work transforms these sources into a fragmentary visual system, in which the absence of the saint shifts the interpretive focus toward secondary figures and autonomous symbolic elements. Through a qualitative approach that combines visual analysis, film analysis, and an interview with the artist, the formal and symbolic strategies that articulate the piece are examined. It is argued that The Great Arsenic does not reinterpret sacred iconography in narrative terms, but rather activates it as an open visual archive, characterized by ambiguity, fragmentation, and the suspension of meaning. From this perspective, the work allows us to consider the persistence of forms of devotional visuality in contemporary culture not as a transmission of religious values, but as symbolic structures reconfigured through an aesthetic and critical logic. This visual logic shifts the meaning toward an open interpretive experience, in which images associated with temptation, desire, or evil cease to function as fixed moral categories.
Presentamos en este trabajo el papel narrativo de las pequeñas figuras de azabache ligadas al atuendo del peregrino dentro del ecosistema sagrado del Camino de Santiago. Más allá de su función identitaria y circulatoria, como amuletos o recuerdos de peregrinación, estas imágenes portátiles funcionaban como dispositivos visuales que condensaban y proyectaban la vivencia espiritual del viaje y, por lo tanto, como objetos devocionales con un uso simbólico, personal y ritual. Estos objetos estaban destinados a ser cosidos o sujetos en la ropa o sombrero o a ser colgados. Esta aportación explora su producción y usos, su relación con otros objetos del Camino y su presencia en retratos, inventarios y testimonios literarios o artísticos que nos hablan de sus portadores. A pesar de ser objetos fabricados en masa, como queda atestiguado en la documentación gremial, la huella arqueológica es todavía muy escasa, pero nos permite confirmar un uso ligado a ambos géneros. El reducido número de ejemplares conocidos y su datación basada fundamentalmente en criterios estilísticos dificulta todavía dataciones precisas. Hoy en día azabache y Camino siguen vías divergentes. Con el paso del tiempo estos objetos han sufrido un proceso de resignificación perdiendo su carácter puramente devocional o apotropaico.
This article analyzes the identification of female portraits with divine attributes as possible representations of Ptolemaic queens assimilated to the goddess Isis. To this end, it examines the main characteristic attributes of the goddess within the Egyptian religious context, the historical precedents of divine assimilation by royal women, as well as the type of portrait and the function of the various iconographic media on which the Lagid queens are depicted. The proposed hypotheses are based exclusively on images whose identification is supported by inscriptions or by a clearly documented archaeological context. This analysis confirms that the symbolic association between queens and the goddess Isis/Hathor was a widely used visual device in Egyptian art of the Ptolemaic period. Nevertheless, it is proposed that anonymous female portraits in Isiac style should be interpreted as representations of the divinity, with the possibility of a royal identification considered only when the royal diadem is present as a distinctive attribute.
This article examines the epistemological implications of artificial intelligence-generated images without empirical referents, focusing on their credibility, historical plausibility, and impact on collective memory. Drawing on visual culture and the philosophy of history, it argues that their plausibility stems not from documentary evidence but from the recognition of shared aesthetic codes. Methodologically, the study adopts a hermeneutic and critical approach, based on the analysis of selected cases of synthetic medieval representations disseminated on social media. Although entirely fictional, these images reproduce stylistic attributes established in historical painting and iconography, activating a collective aesthetic memory that renders them seemingly credible. The study concludes that their epistemic authority lies not in referential fidelity but in their capacity to mobilize culturally validated visual repertoires. This poses challenges for historiography, heritage transmission, and the uses of the past in the digital era, within a qualitative framework centered on image theory, philosophy of history, and software studies.
This article offers a theoretical approach to the study of iconic graffiti with religious themes through a selection of Mediterranean cases from the 18th century. In this context, the graffiti are interpreted as graphic expressions of popular religiosity. The conceptual framework is articulated from the notion of iconic presence formulated by Hans Belting, complemented by the idea of image-matter by Jos & eacute; Luis Brea and by the conception of graffiti as acts of material devotion proposed by Ann Marie Yasin. The study examines the dynamic relationship between subject, image, and object of worship.
This article studies cantiga 4 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria corpus, dedicated to the Jewish child of Bourges. The approach is based on anthropological postulates regarding liminality, understanding conversion stories as liminal experiences mediated by the cult image. From this framework, the textual and visual development of the composition will be analysed, as well as the role of the Marian effigy. The main argument is to understand the absence of the baptismal scene, understanding the child's stay in the oven as a baptism of blood. A comparison with an apocryphal miracle from the Infancy of Christ, preserved in the Bodleian Library (MS. Selden Supra 38), will help us to define the peculiarities of our case. This will lead us to address issues of anti-Semitism, conversion, and baptism as a liminal ritual.
This article puts forward a methodological study of holy cards from an interdisciplinary perspective that combines visual and material studies, and popular religion. Based on a corpus drawn from the Historical Provincial Archive of the Society of Jesus in Chile, the study proposes a methodological framework built on four dimensions: iconographic, material, scriptural, and positional. These categories explore how these images mediate the sacred in everyday life, articulating devotional, affective, and bodily practices within Catholic communities from the mid-19th onwards. Through the proposed methodology, it is revealed how these images configure symbolic and social universes that connect beliefs, collective memories, and cultural practices, opening up a broader reflection on the role of material objects in constructing religious experience and their in visual culture.
This article explores the medieval Iberian Ateni Sioni Church, built in the 7th century and renowned for its comprehensive mural cycle dated to the 12th century. It draws particular attention to the church’s architectural, topographical, and decorative parallels with a significant sacred site in Iberia, the Church of the Holy Cross in Jvari. Rather than viewing these similarities as exclusively formal, the article offers an alternative perspective, focusing especially on the church’s topography and exterior decoration. It examines the donor reliefs on the facade in relation to their spatial context and considers how pilgrims and worshippers engaged with them as well as their possible symbolic significance at the time of their creation. The study demonstrates that, in the medieval period, Ateni Sioni served not only as a religious monument but also as a powerful political statement – a visual embodiment of authority and faith.
The article analyzes, based on the premises of anthropological iconology and visual studies, three prints dedicated to Saint Didacus of Alcal & aacute;, produced between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, with the aim of reconsidering their function within the devotional ecosystem of post-Tridentine Europe. The "vicarious visibility" of these images, together with their portable condition, contributed to multiplying the praesentia of the saint beyond the chapel where his relics rest, the epicenter of his miracles. The innovation of this study lies in the formal and typological analysis of these engraved images and in the formulation of a pertinent theoretical framework for their examination. The author proposes the category of "altarpiece-prints" to designate this formal model of narrating the Wunderviten. Their fragmentary and sequential structure-evocative of Gothic hagiographic altarpieces and Byzantine vita icons-offers an adaptation of the altarpiece language to the printed medium. The study concludes that the emergence of this format may have responded to the need to articulate new devotional practices -effective both in Reformed Europe and in Catholic territories, in Europe as well as the Americas- through images capable of maintaining, extending, or renewing the experience of sacred presence beyond the institutional framework of worship.
This article reflects on how the transformation of natural sites into cultural spaces was perceived in medieval Armenia, as analysed in The History of the State of Sisakan, written by the bishop and historian Stepanos Orbelian (c. 1250–1304). Orbelian's text opens with the familiar theme of a natural environment being transformed from a desert into a paradise, and describes how monastic colonisation turned a wild landscape into a prosperous cultural and fertile place. Art and culture are presented as instruments that bring the environment closer to God's will: thanks to the monastic presence, the region was protected from floods and bad weather. However, human action cannot be seen as positive alone: various invasions by foreign forces should be seen as elements of rupture, damaging nature and culture in order to satisfy diabolical greed. By analysing textual data and architectural heritage, this text explores some of the questions raised within Ecocritical Art History, attempting to understand the issue of the 'exploitation' of natural sites in the past.
The present article examines the use and functions of spolia within the architecture of Moissac Abbey, France, during the late 11th and 12th centuries. The overarching goal of the text is to delve into the question of how the medieval monastery rewrote, reused, and reproduced the antique past through various media. It explores how the practice of spoliation contributed to the monastery’s establishment as both a sacred space and a strong political and cultural center. The spoliated elements are further anchored and interpreted within their particular material context as bearers of iconological significance that may contribute to our understanding of the iconography of the abbey’s sculptural decoration. Moreover, based on visual comparisons from across the region, it is argued that Moissac actively participated in the creation of an extensive sacred ecosystem interconnected by the constantly reminiscent memory of the ancient past, which is maintained and extended by the movement of human bodies.
Este artículo ofrece una aproximación teórica al estudio de los grafitis icónicos de temática religiosa a través de una selección de casos mediterráneos del siglo XVIII. En este contexto, los grafitis se interpretan como expresiones gráficas de la religiosidad popular. El marco conceptual se articula a partir de la noción de presencia icónica formulada por Hans Belting, que se complementa con la idea de imagen-materia de José Luis Brea y con la concepción de los grafitis como actos de devoción material propuesta por Ann Marie Yasin. El estudio examina la relación dinámica entre sujeto, imagen y objeto de culto.
Este articulo estudia la cantiga 4 del corpus de las Cantigas de Santa Maria, dedicada al niño judío de Bourges. La aproximación se realiza desde los postulados de la antropología con respecto a la liminaridad, entendiendo los relatos de conversión como experiencias liminares mediadas por la imagen de culto. Desde este marco, se analizarán el desarrollo textual y visual de la composición, así como el papel de la efigie mariana. Como argumento principal, se trata de comprender la ausencia de la escena bautismal, entendiendo la estancia del niño en el horno como un bautismo de sangre. La comparación con un milagro apócrifo de la Infancia de Cristo, conservado en la Bodleian Library (MS. Selden Supra 38), nos ayudará a definir las peculiaridades de nuestro caso. Esto nos llevará a tratar cuestiones sobre el antisemitismo, la conversión o el bautismo como ritual liminar.
This paper aims to establish a connection between the genres of medal books, as visual and iconographic sources, and their parallels and divergences in relation to emblem books, both phenomena within the Renaissance. While both textual and visual genres have been widely and independently studied, never have they been drawn as close manifestations and put into comparison. Similarities include formal elements, as well as their educational purpose, their admiration for Antiquity and the use of mythological characters. Nevertheless, medal books focus on the life of exemplary historical or mythological figures, with illustrations imitating ancient coins, whereas emblems allow for wider thematic scope and graphic creativity. On the other hand, a chronological comparison between both is explained; it is thus noted that interest in medals began in the 15th century, as its key publication, the Illustrium imagines by Andrea Fulvio, was published at an early date, in 1517. This period slaps over time with the so-called "pre-emblematic" or "proto-emblematic" phase. During the first half of the 16th century, Medallistics was at its height and so precedes Alciato's volume (1531); however, Emblematica ends up imposing its design and layout over medal books.
This paper analyzes the evolution of Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia and Archduke Albert in relation to their marital status and political position. It examines how, before their marriage, Albert used a coat of arms that emphasized his connection to the Hispanic Monarchy, reflecting his trajectory under the protection of Philip II. On the other hand, after Isabel Clara became the sovereign of the Netherlands, a coat of arms was established for her that highlighted her single status. After the marriage, they adopted a joint coat of arms, where the Austro-Burgundian elements became prominent, reflecting their shared sovereignty in the Netherlands. However, the individual use of this emblem suggests that the title belonged more to Albert. This interpretation in the coat of arms of Isabel Clara Eugenia as a widow, where she places their former joint arms where her husband's should be, is explored. Through the study, it is demonstrated how the archdukes used heraldry as a visual representation of political and dynastic legitimacy, adapting to changes in power and reinforcing their position as sovereigns.
This paper investigates the visual representations—or the marked absence—of Hagar, Bilhah, and Zilpah, three enslaved women in the Book of Genesis, within seventeenth-century Mediterranean painting. Drawing on feminist biblical criticism, art historical analysis, and visual exegesis, it explores how artists in Catholic regions such as Italy and Spain engaged with the iconography of these biblical figures. The study considers how artworks either reproduce or challenge the patriarchal ideologies embedded in Scripture and reflected in early modern theology and culture. Through the analysis of selected paintings, it reveals how silence, abjection, and guilt were visually encoded into the stories of these women, shaping their reception across time. It also contrasts Catholic visual traditions with Dutch Protestant interpretations, illuminating the theological and cultural dynamics at play. The research shows how artistic strategies—such as composition, gesture, and emotion—contributed to the marginalization or subversion of these figures. Ultimately, the paper argues that early modern art participated in the ideological work of biblical interpretation, acting as both a mirror and a critique of patriarchal structures. In doing so, it contributes to broader debates at the intersection of gender, religion, and visual culture, and expands the discourse on how enslaved and silenced biblical women are negotiated through image.
In 2016, the National Archaeological Museum (MAN) in Madrid acquired an octodrachm of Berenice II bearing the name of Arsinoe II at a public auction. The primary reason for this acquisition was the coexistence of iconographic and epigraphic references to two distinct personalities on the same coin. This peculiarity in Ptolemaic coinage, in addition to perpetuating an unprecedented iconographic model for representing Lagid queens, presupposes the need for numismatic research to examine its communicative function. Through iconographic analysis, this study seeks to unravel the message conveyed by this coinage. The motives that led Berenice II to portray herself in the manner of Arsinoe are not only related to issues of succession and consolidation of power but also to personal reasons stemming from family conflict. Berenice II preferred to associate herself with her paternal Ptolemaic lineage rather than her maternal Seleucid line— constituting clear evidence of the union of two kingdoms, the Ptolemaic realm and Cyrenaica, into a single state.
Este artículo propone un estudio de estampitas religiosas desde una perspectiva interdisciplinar que combina estudios visuales, materiales y de religiosidad popular. A partir de un corpus extraído del Archivo Histórico Provincial de la Compañía de Jesús en Chile, se formula un itinerario metodológico basado en cuatro dimensiones: iconográfica, material, escritural y posicional. Estas categorías permiten explorar cómo estas imágenes permean lo sagrado en lo cotidiano, articulando prácticas devocionales, afectivas y corporales en comunidades católicas desde mediados del siglo XIX en adelante. A través de la metodología expuesta se revela cómo estas imágenes configuran universos simbólicos y sociales que conectan creencias, memorias colectivas y prácticas culturales abriendo una reflexión más amplia sobre el papel de los objetos materiales en la construcción de la experiencia religiosa y su persistencia en la cultura visual contemporánea.
