Stephen Perkinson is associate professor of art history at Bowdoin College.
"Perkinson offers a refreshing account of the theories and
practices of portraiture in late medieval France, that challenges
us to rethink the role of physiognomic likeness as one among
competing representational strategies. He convincingly explains
renewed interest in mimetic representation within a rich
interdisciplinary context, encompassing optical and physiognomic
sciences, literary and theological theories of knowledge, magical
associations of simulacra, and the competitive conditions of
artistic patronage at French aristocratic courts. He shows that
celebrated artists such as the Limbourg brothers produced
recognizable, veristic portraits to demonstrate their skill as well
as their own personal loyalty and that of their patrons to the
ruling elites."--Thomas Dale, University of Wisconsin-Madison
(6/23/2009 12:00:00 AM)
"Stephen Perkinson's book is a tour-de-force. The topic itself has
large implications; not only does this discussion go back to the
beginnings of the discipline of art history, but it investigates
the very nature of image-making in the later Middle Ages. Starting
with the mid-fourteenth-century image of Jean II, King of France,
often said to be the first independent portrait, Perkinson
downplays the thorny issue of physiognomic resemblance and looks at
the issue of likeness more broadly in a series of wide-ranging,
innovative, and highly productive inquiries. This subtle, sensitive
study succeeds in examining this material on its own terms and in
the context of its own times."--Joan A. Holladay, University of
Texas at Austin (6/18/2009 12:00:00 AM)
"A lively, well-researched, and insightful work of scholarship on
late-medieval portraiture and its cultural and intellectual
context. The Likeness of the King provides a strong account of
late-medieval aesthetics and specific, concrete examples of
image-making and the often political needs it served. It offers
smart handling of literary, philosophical, and archival sources;
close and insightful reading of images; and a willingness to
counter received ideas."--Rebecca Zorach, University of Chicago
(1/27/2009 12:00:00 AM)
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