Before the Renaissance and Reformation, holy images the only independent images then in existence were treated not as "art" but as objects of veneration, able to work miracles, deliver oracles, and bring victory on the battlefield. Belting (art history and media theory, School for New Media at Karlsruhe), one of the world's leading scholars of medieval art, traces the long history of the image and its changing role in European culture. Translated from the German edition of 1990 by Edmund Jephcott. Includes 294 b&w illustrations and 12 color plates. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.