The Didactic Image And The Didacticism Of The Image

This dissertation is a study into the iconography of the seven principal virtues in the medieval art.The seven virtues consists of the four principal virtues and the three theological virtues that range from prudence,justice,temperance,fortitude,faith,hope and love.As an moral concept,virtue has been represented by poets and artists in the way of personification since the early Middle Ages.For instance,in Prudentius’s Psychomachia,the personified virtues were portrayed as heroines fighting against the vices in a man’s soul.In the dedicatory miniature,the personified virtues are presented as moral icons symbolizing the power and virtues of the rulers.In addition,virtue is also drawn as a visual symbol in monastic and theological textbooks to assist the monks and nuns in memorizing and understanding the complex theological theory,which is referred to by historians as“art of memory".Moreover,it has also been shown in the manuscripts made for secular people as a way of moral exhortation.In the Middle Ages,the purpose of performing the seven principal virtues in art was to reveal the moral intention and religious spirit through the visual language.This dissertation will analyze the changes of the seven virtues in the medieval art,as well as a discussion on how the church and rulers conveyed the moral concept by using images as a didactic method and how to achieve the didactic aim by using those virtue image to expostulate the monks,royalty and the lay to live a moral life.