Holy Bodies

The life of Jesus is richly represented in manifold examples throughout the centuries. On the one hand, there are the intimate mother-child depictions of childhood, on the other hand, it is the injured body, the sacrifice of Christ, that is the focus. Painters and sculptors of all epochs found impressive answers to the question of the relationship between corporeality and spirituality in their pictorial interpretations and elaborations of the Holy Scriptures and later religious texts.
The preaching evangelists and church fathers are symbols of inner strength and firmness of faith. In the succession, the Christian martyrs and saints even experience haptic veneration. Their bodies, real and in the form of figurative representatives, form the centre of many pilgrimage churches. Combined with a promise of salvation, their touch heals a wide variety of illnesses. Spiritual bodies, such as those of angels and heavenly heralds, remain bound only to the heavenly sphere.