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The practice of walking to a sacred space for personal and spiritual transformation has long held a place in the British imagination. Art and the Sacred Journey in Britain examines the intersections of the concept of pilgrimage and the visual imagination from the years 1790 to 1850. Through a close analysis of a range of interrelated written and visual sources, Kathryn Barush develops the notion of the transfer of `spirit' from sacred space to representation, and contends that pilgrimage, both in practice and as a form of mental contemplation, helped to shape the religious, literary, and artistic imagination of the period and beyond. Drawing on a rich range of material including paintings and drawings, manuscripts, letters, reliquaries, and architecture, the book offers an important contribution to scholarship in the fields of religious studies, anthropology, art history, and literature.
The practice of walking to a sacred space for personal and spiritual transformation has long held a place in the British imagination. Art and the Sacred Journey in Britain examines the intersections of the concept of pilgrimage and the visual imagination from the years 1790 to 1850. Through a close analysis of a range of interrelated written and visual sources, Kathryn Barush develops the notion of the transfer of `spirit' from sacred space to representation, and contends that pilgrimage, both in practice and as a form of mental contemplation, helped to shape the religious, literary, and artistic imagination of the period and beyond. Drawing on a rich range of material including paintings and drawings, manuscripts, letters, reliquaries, and architecture, the book offers an important contribution to scholarship in the fields of religious studies, anthropology, art history, and literature.
Introduction; Manuscripts, mendicants, and magi: the antiquarian revival of pilgrimage texts and objects, with a focus on the collection of Francis Douce; Saints and symbols: pilgrimage and the theology of ‘things’; ‘Every age is a Canterbury pilgrimage’: William Blake as pilgrim and painter; Pilgrimage and the art of ‘the ancients’; The road to ruins; Conclusion: ‘the road goes ever on’; Bibliography; Index.
Kathryn R. Barush is Assistant Professor of Art History and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union and Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University.
'The spiritual pursuit of pilgrimage as an actual and mental act provides Kathryn Barush with a theme that is both notably rich in itself and provides a revealing entry into major artistic and theological issues in the period. She brings into prominence neglected sources for collecting and creating, casting fascinating new light on prominent artists and writers, most notably William Blake. She also provides new perspectives on the fraught and complex religious debates in Catholic and Protestant devotion in theory and practice. She takes us on an enriching journey across familiar and unfamiliar landscapes.' Martin Kemp, Trinity College, University of Oxford, UK 'In this book, Kathryn Barush provides ample evidence that the impulse and desire to revere objects of devotion, whether they be the relics of a saint or the artefacts of a celebrity, animate our human instinct to embrace all things mythic and connect the present with the past, the seen with the unseen.' Michael Morris, Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology, Berkeley, USA 'Kathryn Barush has sifted rare archival materials, followed the tracks of unsung questers, revisited the Gothic vision of the past, and dug deep into visual and literary sources in order to communicate the interweaving of faith and aesthetics in British Romanticism. At a time when understanding the relations of people to places and the past, and the interactions of individual and collective memory has become an urgent concern, Art and the Sacred Journey presents an original and exhilarating perspective. This is an enriching and exciting book, researched with admirable vigour, and written with enthusiasm.' Marina Warner, Birkbeck College, London, UK
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