ABSTRACT
In this essay, I explore some ways in which images, texts, and names may be combined in order to produce a certain form of presence of absent individuals, which is suggested by the term effigies. The ancient use of the term implies the plastic, three-dimensional representation of the body in Roman, medieval, and early modern funeral rituals. Effigies is the most frequently used term for a portrait in postmedieval Latin, and quite often it still bears the meaning of forming a physical image to produce a memorial presence of the deceased. The complex memorial function of portraits-similar to the function of naming the dead in liturgy-as well as the self-promotional function of circulating portraits, forms the basis for my investigation of the role of portraits in the museum and life of Athanasius Kircher.
