The Fabrication Of St. Thomas

The late Medieval in Western Europe is a glorious era of image. The images are rich and diverse, and bear a certain religious function. As an elected saint by Dominican Order, St. Thomas Aquinas'images began to appear in northern Italy from the first half of the fourteenth century. Until the first half of the fifteenth century, all St. Thomas's images of the late Middle Age were directly participated or sponsored by Dominicans. In the early two images, the Dominicans described St. Thomas as the typical portrait of Medieval Saints. But in the late fourteenth century, Dominicans created a series of new image themes. These complex images not only annotated and established St. Thomas'figure, but also expressed certain more profound Dominicans ideas. After the fifteenth century, one of the existing portraits of theme underwent some changes, while St. Thomas in the other is gradually simplified. In this process, the Dominicans not only used images to create renowned achievements and status of St. Thomas, they also created beneficial effects from three levels: support from the high‐grade church, demonstrate differences between Dominicans and Franciscans and expand their sphere of influence among the people. At the time of the late Middle Age, there was a very different function between St. Thomas'image and other images. The fundamental reason why they fabricated image is that the image can enhance the competitiveness and expand their influence.