Abstract
The didactic importance of the religious image can be appreciated in the use of engraving and its power to disseminate, especially in the urban society of the Modern Age, in connection with the printed book. Such images will use their evocative power to suggest, based on observable realities, a reality that never existed, but which is convenient to create: The image will be able to construct this reality and convince observers of its undoubted existence. Some examples elaborated in Spain will be analyzed, as well as their inventors or the engravers who followed the instructions of the previous ones.
Highlights
The study of the religious image in the Spanish Modern Age can be approached from multiple perspectives
Since the objective of the religious image is the dissemination of specific values, its alliance with the printed image is logical and fruitful; especially if the urban society of the Spanish Modern Age is taken into consideration, as it is the moment in which it begins to have specific weight in the population as a whole
Friar Diego Valadés (1533–1582), “engraver of some of the illustrations in his book Retórica Cristiana (Christian Rhetoric) and inventor of others” (Vargas 2009, p. 264), explained in 1579 that prints were used to teach the new religion: “As the Indians were not literate, it was necessary to teach them by some kind of illustration; for this reason, the preacher points out the mysteries of our redemption with a pointer, so that by going through them, they may be better remembered.” (Vargas 2009, p. 264)2
Summary
The study of the religious image in the Spanish Modern Age can be approached from multiple perspectives. Since the objective of the religious image is the dissemination of specific values, its alliance with the printed image is logical and fruitful; especially if the urban society of the Spanish Modern Age is taken into consideration, as it is the moment in which it begins to have specific weight in the population as a whole. In this context, the book and the printed image, whether associated with it or not, acquire importance (Maravall 1975). With these so-called realities will come the power to shape, in the minds of contemporaries, useful ways of interpreting, understanding their world, and acting in it
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