Sara Lipton. Dark Mirror

In the interests of disclosure, I want to state that I write this review as an art historian whose opinions are informed by the methodologies of that discipline. In particular, although art history may consider contemporaneous texts in explicating a work of art, primary to art-historical analysis is the work itself and its relationship to previous artworks that may have served as models. It is only with an understanding of the artistic traditions underlying a painting, sculpture, or an objet d’art that a viewer may perceive that which is innovative. Unfortunately, many historians who marshal visual evidence in support of a thesis based on texts draw a direct line between writings and works of art, viewing texts as the essential inspiration for the art. Sara Lipton acknowledges the need for an investigation of visual models in Dark Mirror: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Jewish Iconography, although in her conclusion, she emphasizes the importance of recovering “the largely internal theological and pastoral concerns underlying images” (280). Her discussion of pertinent documentary evidence related to images of medieval Jewry is the strongest element of the book. These discussions are accompanied by extensive endnotes that attest to the author’s erudition.

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