Visual typology: an Ottonian example

Abstract

Typology is the exegetical method that discovers formal analogies among the events and pnsonages of the Old and New Testaments. According to thc Evangdists, Christ himself sanctioned this technique; remembering how the Hebrew prophets had seen visions of the future in the events of the Pentateuch, he saw his ministry on earth as a fulfillment of promises prefigured in the old dispensation. The modern word typology derives from the Greek typos, which was introduced to Christian exegesis by Paul whcn he described the J cws in the desert as ‘types’ of the Christians (I Corinthians 10: 6, II). In the early Christian pniod, exegetes grcatly elaborated the typographical approach to Scripture and typological programs appeared on such artworks as mural paintings and carved sarcophagi. Kone of this is nnv to the historian of Christian art. In tact, typology is so common a feature of the iconography of early Christian, medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art that it rardy attracts much attcntion per se.