Ronchey, S. “La morte-in-vita negli occhi. In margine a Décrire et peindre.” Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa 45 (2009). 171-83.

Dedicated to Gilbert Dagron and published as a part of a homage to his work Décrire et peindre, this brief essay on icons investigates the status and conceptual implications – theological, philosophical, anthropological and historical-psychological – of the sacred image in the Orthodox Christian world.  The influence of icons in 19th and 20th century literature and thought will be significant for the birth of modern painting.  With the support of a helpful apparatus of plates, the themes of icon painting (particular attention is given to the Transfiguration) and the figurative characteristics of its subjects (lean lined faces, thin lips, and especially, large eyes with fixed gaze and frontal posture) are analysed for their symbolic, metaphysical, and doctrinal meanings.  So-called icon theology and mystical vision are also considered in light of the anthropology of the ancient world, in particular through the work of Jean-Pierre Vernant, and in this perspective are reconnected to their pre-classical and classical Greek antecedents.