Leviathan: Body Politic as Visual Strategy in the Work of Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan: Body Politic as Visual Strategy in the Work of Thomas Hobbes
ISBN-10
3110681366
ISBN-13
9783110681369
Series
Leviathan
Category
Art
Pages
293
Language
English
Published
2020-08-10
Publisher
de Gruyter
Author
Horst Bredekamp

Description

Horst Bredekamp's subject is the surprising resonance of the image of the embodied state that dominates the frontispiece to Leviathan: the treatise on humanity in its "political" dimension published in 1651 by the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Opening with a succinct exposition of how intimately this image is related to some of the fundamental themes addressed by Hobbes, Bredekamp then rigorously pursues the art-historical question of the authorship of the title-page. In the central chapters, the frontispiece is assessed in relation both to venerable visual and intellectual traditions and to some of the scientific innovations of the mid-17th century. The conclusion is devoted to the importance of several of the most far-reaching preoccupations of Hobbes as a profound and original thinker.

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