The bestiary of Christ.
Albin Michel| N° d'inventaire | 9635 |
| Format | 19 x 25 |
| Détails | 997 p., 1127 figures, paperback |
| Publication | Paris, 2011 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782226220547 |
The fruit of the monumental work of archaeologist and historian Louis Charbonneau-Lassay, The Bestiary of Christ was first published in 1941. Two years later, almost the entire edition perished in the bombing of the city of Bruges, along with all the woodcuts used to decorate this treatise on zoological symbolism related to Christ with 1,127 engravings. Here today is this resurrected treasure. The Bestiary of Christ was, in the eyes of the author, only the first part of an unprecedented investigation, to which he devoted his entire life as a researcher, and which was to be continued by a Vulnerary of Christ, a Florarium and a Lapidary. To carry out this undertaking, he mentioned, among the sources consulted, the myths of pre-Christian religions, the sacred books of the two Testaments, the doctrines of the ancient Gnostics, medieval studies, the first memoirs of explorers, folklore, as well as the information provided by a medieval initiatory community, still alive in the 1930s. Heirs to this multiple knowledge whose genesis Charbonneau-Lassay endeavored to trace, the artists of the Middle Ages succeeded in expressing, through their symbols, the most subtle teachings of theology and the impulses of universal mysticism. A synthesis of this ancient language illuminated by the most varied disciplines, the Bestiary appears today as an exceptional document finally accessible.
The fruit of the monumental work of archaeologist and historian Louis Charbonneau-Lassay, The Bestiary of Christ was first published in 1941. Two years later, almost the entire edition perished in the bombing of the city of Bruges, along with all the woodcuts used to decorate this treatise on zoological symbolism related to Christ with 1,127 engravings. Here today is this resurrected treasure. The Bestiary of Christ was, in the eyes of the author, only the first part of an unprecedented investigation, to which he devoted his entire life as a researcher, and which was to be continued by a Vulnerary of Christ, a Florarium and a Lapidary. To carry out this undertaking, he mentioned, among the sources consulted, the myths of pre-Christian religions, the sacred books of the two Testaments, the doctrines of the ancient Gnostics, medieval studies, the first memoirs of explorers, folklore, as well as the information provided by a medieval initiatory community, still alive in the 1930s. Heirs to this multiple knowledge whose genesis Charbonneau-Lassay endeavored to trace, the artists of the Middle Ages succeeded in expressing, through their symbols, the most subtle teachings of theology and the impulses of universal mysticism. A synthesis of this ancient language illuminated by the most varied disciplines, the Bestiary appears today as an exceptional document finally accessible.