The Status of Image: A Challenge for Medieval Aesthetics

Abstract

The art and the concept of Beauty in the Middle Ages are connected with the resolution of the issue on the status of the image. Since the early centuries, the fear for idolatry has led to distrust images, up to moments of iconoclasm. Gradually, however, thanks to the Council of Nicea ii, thanks to neo-Platonic philosophy in its new expressions, the artist has had more and more guarantees of freedom, he has been considered a creator of beauty, a prosecutor of God’s creation.