Verbe silencieux and verbum infans: the language of painting in the phenomenology of Jean-Louis Chrétien
Abstract
This article argues for the possibility of formulating a language of painting within Jean-Louis Chrétien’s phenomenology of the voice, conceived as a type of non-predicative language. To demonstrate this, we will first address the notions of the “silent verb” (verbe silencieux) and the “infant verb” (verbum infans) proposed by Chrétien, as they appear in his work Corps à corps (1997). Secondly, we will show how Chrétien develops this notion of the language of painting through his reception of the doctrine of the verbum in Christian Neoplatonism, specifically in authors such as Augustine of Hippo and Nicholas of Cusa. Finally, in order to reveal the hermeneutical richness of this non-predicative language of painting and the productive character of its reception and appropriation of Christian Neoplatonism, we will revisit the discussion between painting (image) and poetry (language) in Leonardo da Vinci’s Trattato della pittura.
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