Ralph Dekoninck, Agnès Guiderdoni, and Walter Melion (eds.): Quid est secretum? Visual Representation of Secrets in Early Modern Europe, 1500–1700. Intersections, Volume: 65/2; ISBN: 978-90-04-43225-3

Quid est secretum? Visual Representation of Secrets in Early Modern Europe, 1500–1700 is the companion volume to Intersections 65.1, Quid est sacramentum? Visual Representation of Sacred Mysteries in Early Modern Europe, 1400–1700. Whereas the latter volume focused on sacramental mysteries, the current one examines a wider range of secret subjects. The book examines how secret knowledge was represented visually in ways that both revealed and concealed the true nature of that knowledge, giving and yet impeding access to it. In the early modern period, the discursive and symbolical sites for the representation of secrets were closely related to epistemic changes that transformed conceptions of the transmissibility of knowledge.

Contributors: Monika Biel, Alicja Bielak, C. Jean Campbell, Tom Conley, Ralph Dekoninck, Peter G.F. Eversmann, Ingrid Falque, Agnès Guiderdoni, Koenraad Jonckheere, Suzanne Karr Schmidt, Stephanie Leitch, Carme López Calderón, Mark A. Meadow, Walter S. Melion, Eelco Nagelsmit, Lars Cyril Nørgaard, Alexandra Onuf, Bret L. Rothstein, Xavier Vert, Madeleine C. Viljoen, Mara R. Wade, Lee Palmer Wandel, and Caecilie Weissert.

URL: https://brill.com/view/title/57612

Table of Contents: Contents Acknowledgements Notes on the Editors Notes on the Contributors List of Illustrations Introduction: What’s in a Secret? Ralph Dekoninck, Agnès Guiderdoni, and Walter S. Melion

PART 1: THE SPIRITUAL LOCUS OF SECRET

1 In the Secrecy of the Cell: Late Medieval Carthusian Devotional Imagery and Meditative Practices in the Low Countries Ingrid Falque 2 Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as Artisans of the Heart and Soul in Manuscript MPM R 35 Vita S. Ioseph beatissimae Virginis sponsi of ca. 1600 Walter S. Melion 3 Symbols and (Un)concealed Marian Mysteries in the First Litany of Loreto Illustrated with Emblems: Peter Stoergler’s Asma Poeticum(Linz, 1636) Carme López Calderón 4 ‘Teach Me, Reveal the Secret to My Heart’: the Role of a Spiritual Guide in the Meditative Works of Marcin Hińcza Alicja Bielak

PART 2: SCIENCE AND SECRECY

5 Of Grids and Divine Mystery: Gerard Mercator’s Revelation Lee Palmer Wandel 6 What Did They See?: Science and Religion in the Anatomical Theatres of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries Peter G.F. Eversmann

PART 3: THE SECRET IN MATTER

7 The Sienese Goldsmith and the Secrets of Florentine Disegno C. Jean Campbell 8 An Open and Shut Case: On the Dialectic of Secrecy and Access in the Early-Modern Kunstkammer Mark A. Meadow 9 Mysterious Noises: Orphic Strings, Rough Music, and the Sounds of Early Modern Ornament Prints Madeleine C. Viljoen 10 ‘Insettinghe’ and ‘yegelijcx conversatie’: Understanding of the Image on the Eve of Baroque Koenraad Jonckheere 11 Roger de Piles and the Secret of Grace Caecilie Weissert

PART 4: SECRECY AND SANCTITY: NEGOTIATING SECULAR AND SACRED REGISTERS OF THE SECRET

12 In Abscondito: Visuality and Testimony in Raphael’s Transfiguration Xavier Vert 13 Secrets of the Dark: Rembrandt’s Entombment (c. 1654) Alexandra Onuf 14 Poussin and Richeome: Mystery and Figurability Ralph Dekoninck 15 Portrait or Parable?: Pierre Mignard and the Mystery of Madame de Maintenon Eelco Nagelsmit & Lars Cyril Nørgaard

PART 5: SECRETS OF THE ARS SYMBOLICA: EMBLEMS AND ENIGMAS

16 Secret est à louer: Secrets and Secrecy in French Baroque Cartography, 1580–1640 Tom Conley 17 Hidden in Plain Sight: Melchior Lorck’s Emblematized Adages Mara R. Wade 18 To Hide is to Reveal: the Paradox of Representing Secrets Agnès Guiderdoni

PART 6: CHALLENGES OF THE SECRET: PUBLICITY, PERFORMANCE, AND PLAY

19 Getting to How-To: Chiromancy, Physiognomy, Metoscopy and Prints in Secrets’ Service Stephanie Leitch 20 The Answer Lies in the Eye of the Beholder: the Emblematic Ceiling Program in the Town Hall of Gdańsk Monika Biel 21 Convents, Condottieri, and Compulsive Gamblers: Hands-On Secrets of Lorenzo Spirito’s Libro Suzanne Karr Schmidt 22 Secrecy and the Understanding of Small Things in Early Modern Italy Bret L. Rothstein Index Nominum