"To hide is to reveal: the paradox of representing secrets"

Guiderdoni, Agnès
(2020) ‘Quid est secretum?’: On the Visual Representation of Mystery and Secrecy in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1700. — ISBN: [978-90-04-43226-0], p. 617-632, published

Files

INTE65-2_Ch18-Guiderdoni_pr2.pdf
  • Open Access
  • Adobe PDF
  • 959.65 KB
Download

Details

Authors
Abstract
One of the many topoï to express the kind of symbolical language that may be used to express divine mysteries consists in the image of the veil. Following mainly the arguments stated by Pseudo-Dionysius, prefaces and addresses to the readers of emblematical texts and symbolical treatises explains ad infinitum why and how it is necessary to hide, veil or adumbrate the secrets of Truth. However, at close reading, one cannot help noticing the ambivalence of such recommendation and practice, in which the veil is designated as such and thus becomes the index of the secret to unveil. The veil is conceived more as a fabric of indices to decipher than a proper cover to protect mystical truth.
Affiliations

Citations

  • APA
  • Chicago
  • FWB

Guiderdoni, A. (2020). “To hide is to reveal: the paradox of representing secrets”. In Ralph Dekoninck, Agnès Guiderdoni and Walter S. Melion (ed.), ‘Quid est secretum?’: On the Visual Representation of Mystery and Secrecy in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1700. (p. p. 617-632). Brill. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/219651