Rethinking Images as the Book of the Illiterate: Towards a New Acoustic Understanding of Religious Art (1550-1650)
AurArt investigates the auditory reception of early modern religious art, focusing on the Catholic justification of sacred images as both a “book of the illiterate” (liber idiotae) and a “universal language” (lingua universalis) that developed in Italy after the Council of Trent (1545-1563). Drawing on a wide range of literary and figurative primary sources, such as treatises on art theory, preaching and prayer manuals, and devotional artworks, AurArt has two specific objectives. On one hand, it aims to deconstruct the essentially visual prism that has dominated art historiographical reflection on the definition of sacred images as the “book of the illiterate.” On the other, it seeks redefine the idea of a passive and visual “reading” of religious art in favour of a form of interactive reception based on both seeing and listening. By rethinking the role of hearing in the reception of post-Tridentine Catholic images, AurArt will fill thematic and methodological gaps in the emerging field of study at the intersection of art history, sensory history, sound studies, and religion studies. The overall goal is to offer a new acoustic understanding of sacred images, contributing to the current transformative change leading to an interpretation of art as a cultural phenomenon involving the whole body and its sensorium. To achieve this, AurArt includes the design of a museum auditory device at the MuséeL of Louvain-la-Neuve. The auditory device project involves a synergistic interaction between research, artistic creation, and sensory heritage mediation, aiming to foster an embodied acoustic experience of religious artworks accessible to all.