La erudición del pintor. Juan Interián de Ayala y los nuevos propósitos de la imagen religiosa en el Siglo de las Luces

Why would a normative treatise on religious imagery give such extensive explanations on details so trivial and apparently unrelated with devotion like the material of the knife with which the Christ Child was circumcised, the color of his robe, or the way he moved around the different settings where he was tempted by the devil? This book provides a detailed study of the treatise El pintor cristiano y erudito and of the activities and background of its author, the Mercedarian monk and professor at Salamanca Juan Interián de Ayala. This is followed by a summary of the reasons why we radically disagree with those who have taken this 1730 treatise as the outdated product of a backward scholastic mentality. This revision offers new insights into the first third of the 18th century as a time of cultural transition, when elites came to revalue History as an indispensable discipline in the battle against popular ignorance, even above the metaphorical-symbolical readings inherent in sacred imagery.