The Harmonies of Little Gidding as Co-Creative Text-Image Combinations
In this article, we are investigating text-image combinations in the Harmony of the Pentateuch, the last and largest biblical harmony by the community of Little Gidding, made ca. 1642 for the Prince of Wales. In this unique book full of “harmoniall parallel[s]”, there is a correspondence between the...
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| Pubblicato in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ranam, |
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| Autori principali: | , |
| Natura: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lingua: | Anglais |
| Pubblicazione: |
Recherches anglaises et nord-américaines
2026
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| Soggetti: | |
| Accesso online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Riassunto: | In this article, we are investigating text-image combinations in the Harmony of the Pentateuch, the last and largest biblical harmony by the community of Little Gidding, made ca. 1642 for the Prince of Wales. In this unique book full of “harmoniall parallel[s]”, there is a correspondence between the method of production (a group combining their competencies to create this artefact), the combination of media involved (various forms of texts and images), and the religious content and concepts represented (in particular the typological combination of Old and New Testaments). Furthermore, the aesthetic and religious collaboration comprised the mind-work consisting in the selection and arrangement of passages and biblical illustrations and emblems, and the hand-work consisting in cutting out those passages from printed Bibles, exegetical works and loose-leaf series of printed images, as well as in pasting them on carefully prepared sheets of paper which were then bound into a volume. Existing text-image combinations are integrated into larger images, which may thus be regarded as co-created meta-emblems. Subtle theological, political, and aesthetic statements are conveyed in this manner, as when the marbled paper replacing Catholic images of God and heaven shows the artefact highlighting as well as transcending its own materiality. |
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