Henry Maguire, Nectar and Illusion: Nature in Byzantine Art and Literature. (Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture.) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Pp. 224; 73 black-and-white figures and 20 color figures. $55. ISBN: 97810199766604.

Abstract

general, and Corine Schleif treats the range of emotions a viewer might experience in looking at images of the naked, tortured, mutilated, and humiliated body of Christ in latemedieval prints. In all, these essays address a wide range of nude bodies in medieval artsinners and saints, martyrs, patriarchs, gods and goddesses, entertainers, prostitutes, and bathers. In light of this variety, it is clear that there is still much work to do in the cataloguing and analysis of this imagery.The essays of the volume generally cohere well, and there is a nice rhythm established by the shorter essays that also contain ample notes if one wishes to delve further into the subject. This collection is successful in presenting an enormous range of material and opening up the possibilities for additional scholarship on this topic. Future publications might address medieval artworks that are more tightly circumscribed both chronologically and geographically-late-medieval France and Flanders would seem a good topic to address in this detailed fashion. One might also conceive of volumes that are media specific-wall painting or manuscripts, for example-or perhaps concentrate on a specific type of text, such as the book of hours. Another direction that future essays on this topic might take would be to incorporate material from Byzantium and the Islamic world and study the ways in which common or dissimilar attitudes towards nudity manifested themselves in visual imagery around the Mediterranean. In general this is an excellent collection of essays treating a wide variety of situations in which imagery of the nude plays an important role, and it should stimulate additional publications on the topic of nudity in medieval art.