DOI issue:
Nr. 2
DOI issue:Obsah / Contents
DOI article:Kusters, Liesbet; Sidgwick, Emma: A motif and its basal layer: the Haemorrhoissa (Mark 5.24-34) and the interplay of iconological and anthropological research
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31179#0155
the exegetical commentaries in which the art
op /Ao A (7kAU^ tw/
o%/y A /Eo /o^cAyg op /Po Pow"P^
This confrontation of text and image has shown
how the specihcit)^ of the heaiing of the Woman with
an Issue of Blood has been transiated into a number
of characteristics specihc to its iconography. But it
has also uncovered problems that derive from this
very specificky, such as the invisible nature of the
illness and its cure. Where this iconological approach
has in the hrst instance investigated the process of
transposition from word to image, we will now look
for the layers of meaning from which the motif
crystallizes in both word and image.
The Opaque Cultural Layer
of Meaning from which the Motif Crystallizes
in Word and Image
Historical anthropology is an exceptionally
"fractal"'" discipline, with no predetermined linear
or benchmarked model of interprétation. In this
historical-anthropological reading of the Haemor-
rhoissa motif, our relation to its visual représentation
is primarily as follows: anthropology does not here
serve merely to "contextualise", nor are we primarily
concerned with the nature of the images or their im-
age-praxis,^ but we focus on their "invisible" basal
layer — more particularly, on the basal layer of how
the whole motif appears in text, image, and other
transpositions and embeddingsT
BAERT 2011 (see in note 11). This is congruent with the
importance of the story in discussions concerning the new
concept of a Christian touch and its discrepancy with the
magical healing practices of the ancient world. Where the
healing power of Christ at hrst sight seems reminiscent of
pagan magic — howing forth from Him immediately and
independently -, Bromley States that the Gospels correct any
magical understanding when they emphasize the role of faith.
When Christ says "Your faith has saved you", He deepens her
touch by suggesting that her faith is the source, or at the least
the mainspring of her healing. Selvidge States that the Hae-
morrhoissa is only fully healed at Christ's words. — BROMLEY,
D. H.: The Healing of the Hemorrhaging Woman: Miracle or
Magic? In: pwr/M/ op AMhz/ 37%AA, 5, 2005, No. 1, pp. 1-20;
and SELVIDGE 1990 (see in note 10), pp. 91-92.
WULF, C. (ed.):
pgA Weinheim — Basel 1997, p. 14.
7. CPEV Ev A/A/ op Ev Lýw/wEvÁ <y BrnrAz,
740 — 770, Aory. BrovEz, APnvo CEwo.
Let us be clear about this. Anthropology can be
used to enter into a cultural layer of meaning that
is opaque. One might say that anthropology should
not be seen as the study of "conscious expressions"
(the domain of history), but as the study of
rho/n* conditions"."' Anthropology seeks a cultural
layer of meaning the content of which is not (yet)
These are the two questions that are primarily seen as
"anthropological" from within the held of art history. Both,
just like contextualization itself, are nevertheless relevant and
indispensable for the research proposed here; ail the more so
when we look at the way and the measure in which the motif
is disseminated through the material culture. See BAERT
2009 (see in note 11).
* The concept of the image is thus extended even further:
images are seen as anchored in a web of myriád cultural
expressions. Images (iconic or aniconic) are seen as cultural
expressions that do not raise themselves above, but tie in with
other "expressions of culture" - though naturally entirely
according to their own medium-specihc parameters.
^ AG AMBEN, G.: Aby Warburgand the Nameless Science. In:
PoEzzEAEA. CoEAEE A PEEojtpEy- Stanford 1999, pp.
89-103, p. 99 (after Claude Lévi-Strauss), emphasis added.
151
op /Ao A (7kAU^ tw/
o%/y A /Eo /o^cAyg op /Po Pow"P^
This confrontation of text and image has shown
how the specihcit)^ of the heaiing of the Woman with
an Issue of Blood has been transiated into a number
of characteristics specihc to its iconography. But it
has also uncovered problems that derive from this
very specificky, such as the invisible nature of the
illness and its cure. Where this iconological approach
has in the hrst instance investigated the process of
transposition from word to image, we will now look
for the layers of meaning from which the motif
crystallizes in both word and image.
The Opaque Cultural Layer
of Meaning from which the Motif Crystallizes
in Word and Image
Historical anthropology is an exceptionally
"fractal"'" discipline, with no predetermined linear
or benchmarked model of interprétation. In this
historical-anthropological reading of the Haemor-
rhoissa motif, our relation to its visual représentation
is primarily as follows: anthropology does not here
serve merely to "contextualise", nor are we primarily
concerned with the nature of the images or their im-
age-praxis,^ but we focus on their "invisible" basal
layer — more particularly, on the basal layer of how
the whole motif appears in text, image, and other
transpositions and embeddingsT
BAERT 2011 (see in note 11). This is congruent with the
importance of the story in discussions concerning the new
concept of a Christian touch and its discrepancy with the
magical healing practices of the ancient world. Where the
healing power of Christ at hrst sight seems reminiscent of
pagan magic — howing forth from Him immediately and
independently -, Bromley States that the Gospels correct any
magical understanding when they emphasize the role of faith.
When Christ says "Your faith has saved you", He deepens her
touch by suggesting that her faith is the source, or at the least
the mainspring of her healing. Selvidge States that the Hae-
morrhoissa is only fully healed at Christ's words. — BROMLEY,
D. H.: The Healing of the Hemorrhaging Woman: Miracle or
Magic? In: pwr/M/ op AMhz/ 37%AA, 5, 2005, No. 1, pp. 1-20;
and SELVIDGE 1990 (see in note 10), pp. 91-92.
WULF, C. (ed.):
pgA Weinheim — Basel 1997, p. 14.
7. CPEV Ev A/A/ op Ev Lýw/wEvÁ <y BrnrAz,
740 — 770, Aory. BrovEz, APnvo CEwo.
Let us be clear about this. Anthropology can be
used to enter into a cultural layer of meaning that
is opaque. One might say that anthropology should
not be seen as the study of "conscious expressions"
(the domain of history), but as the study of
rho/n* conditions"."' Anthropology seeks a cultural
layer of meaning the content of which is not (yet)
These are the two questions that are primarily seen as
"anthropological" from within the held of art history. Both,
just like contextualization itself, are nevertheless relevant and
indispensable for the research proposed here; ail the more so
when we look at the way and the measure in which the motif
is disseminated through the material culture. See BAERT
2009 (see in note 11).
* The concept of the image is thus extended even further:
images are seen as anchored in a web of myriád cultural
expressions. Images (iconic or aniconic) are seen as cultural
expressions that do not raise themselves above, but tie in with
other "expressions of culture" - though naturally entirely
according to their own medium-specihc parameters.
^ AG AMBEN, G.: Aby Warburgand the Nameless Science. In:
PoEzzEAEA. CoEAEE A PEEojtpEy- Stanford 1999, pp.
89-103, p. 99 (after Claude Lévi-Strauss), emphasis added.
151