The Image Not Made by Human Hands

   

It's the last week for Eikōn: Icons of the Orthodox Christian World at the Ballarat Art Gallery. 

       

Of particular interest to bLOGOS/HA HA, given the present turmoil at the meeting points of Islam's blasphemy proscription and the West's ideal of free expression, is this image of this image of the Christ.

      

'The Image Not Made by Human Hands’, also known as ‘The Mandylion’, or ‘The Holy Face of Edessa’ (Russia, 17th century), egg tempera and gesso on linen over wood, 30.8 x 25.7 cm, (Private Collection, Sydney).

So too, the accompanying gallery wall text. Notes were made : "The existence of this image was the primary argument for the Divine Sanction of images...".

       

    
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the name "Veronica" comes from the Latin vera, meaning "true" or "Truthful", and the Greek eikon, meaning "image"; the Veil of Veronica was therefore largely regarded in medieval times as the "true image", the truthful representation of Jesus, preceding the Shroud of Turin. (Wikipedia)

         

Albrecht Dürer, Sudarium of St Veronica supported by two angels, an engraving (British Museum)

        

What about blasphemy by web bots? Is that possible? The nuances get so angels-on-a-pin-head weird. 

Here's what happened as we transferred this Portable Network Graphic of The Image Not Made by Human Hands to Google Chrome Photos in order to upload it to bLOGOS/HA HA. The bots sent in their Facial Recognition engineers :

   

detail

A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/

someone looks at something...

LOGOS/HA HA