1st Edition
The Netherlandish Image after Iconoclasm, 1566–1672 Material Religion in the Dutch Golden Age
By Mia M. Mochizuki
Copyright 2008
424 Pages
by
Routledge
Debunking the myth of the stark white Protestant church interior, this study explores the very objects and architectural additions that were in fact added to Netherlandish church interiors in the first century after iconoclasm. In charting these additions, Mia Mochizuki helps explain the impact of iconoclasm on the cultural topography of the Dutch Golden Age, and by extension, permits careful... Read more
Contents: Introduction. The mythic vacuum; The gothic cathedral; Images of iconoclasm; The word made material; The word made memorial; The word made manifest; Conclusion. Material religion; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.
Biography
Mia M. Mochizuki was educated at Groton School, Vassar College, Yale University and Leiden University. She taught in the art history departments at the University of Chicago and Columbia University before coming to the Jesuit School of Theology and the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, as the Thomas E. Bertelsen, Jr. Chair of Art History and Religion. She is Affiliated Faculty in the Department of the History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley. With Amy Golahny and Lisa Vergara, she edited In His Milieu. Essays on Netherlandish Art in Memory of John Michael Montias.
Prize: Winner of the ACE/Mercers' International Book Award 2009 Winner of the College Art Association Publication Grant, 2007 'Outstanding ... It sets one building - the Great Church at Haarlem - in an exceptionally broad context - as built form, as culturally symbolic artefact, and as a vehicle for didactic decoration ... Her story begins in the Roman Catholic era, examines the motives behind iconoclasm, its destructive force as well as its generative power, and then details the appropriation of the church by the local Reformed Community. All this is done with exceptional precision, imaginative insight and scholarly depth.' Graham Howes, ACE trustee 'The long-term impact of iconoclasm on the development of art in the Reformed Netherlands is one of the most urgent and least understood problems in our field. Mia Mochizuki's book gives us nuanced new answers, deftly combining concrete historical description and analysis with a sophisticated understanding of the theological, political and aesthetic issues at hand. Dutch Protestants cared about art. Mochizuki tells us why and how.' Mariët Westermann, New York University, USA 'Mochizuki has conclusively shown how artistic vision, like artistic style, is not only transitory in nature, but also how it is interwoven with theological insights and social circumstances. She has given art its place in society, indeed one that goes to the heart of the Church Masters’ and Church Council’s views on attracting viewer attention through design, by drawing well considered and profound conclusions from archival documents, abundant literature, artifacts and comparable examples. For the Netherlands, I am pleased our culture has been illuminated by such an impressive and knowledgeable scholar.' C.A. van Swigchem, Vrije Universiteit, The Netherlands 'Mia Mochizuki's The Netherlandish Image after Iconoclasm is a highly original approach to the subject of art and the Reformation and a major contribution to our understanding of the e
