ABSTRACT
Is a picture something we look at or something we look through? Taken as the former, the picture’s materiality is paramount – its line, color and physical media inform our aesthetic response. Taken as the latter, however, the materiality of the picture is often subordinated to what it depicts: its subject or message. This dichotomy of the picture is at the root of Reformation debates over idolatry and iconoclasm, as traditional proponents of images as conduits to devotion vied with iconoclasts who emphasized the materiality of “dumb” images made of wood and stone, embossed with gold and jewels. This chapter examines the way John Donne mobilized these two very different ways of understanding pictures in his lyric poetry.
