When early Christian theologians used...
Illustration
When early Christian theologians used the image of a sacrificial lamb, such as was slaughtered at the Jerusalem temple to represent Jesus' rescue of humankind, they were expecting their audiences to think "outside the box." It is not unlike imagining that a one-dimensional medium like oil painting can be used to portray three dimensions simultaneously.
This was the challenge embraced by an Italian painter when goaded by his detractors. Giorgione da Castelfranco, a contemporary of the famous painter Titian, once got into a contest with a group of arrogant sculptors. They argued that their craft was superior to that of "mere painting." Giorgione was not impressed. He claimed that a painting could show the same dimensionality that sculpture could, with the advantage that you didn't have to walk around the back side to see it all. The sculptors scoffed at this idea, so Giorgione promised to prove his point. He accomplished it by "thinking outside the box."
The painter painted a woman with her back turned to the viewer, a pool of water at her feet (reflecting her front side), a burnished surface on one side and a mirror on the other, in both of which her two sides were reflected. Giorgione accomplished showing all sides of his subject in three-dimension, using a flat canvas.
This was the challenge embraced by an Italian painter when goaded by his detractors. Giorgione da Castelfranco, a contemporary of the famous painter Titian, once got into a contest with a group of arrogant sculptors. They argued that their craft was superior to that of "mere painting." Giorgione was not impressed. He claimed that a painting could show the same dimensionality that sculpture could, with the advantage that you didn't have to walk around the back side to see it all. The sculptors scoffed at this idea, so Giorgione promised to prove his point. He accomplished it by "thinking outside the box."
The painter painted a woman with her back turned to the viewer, a pool of water at her feet (reflecting her front side), a burnished surface on one side and a mirror on the other, in both of which her two sides were reflected. Giorgione accomplished showing all sides of his subject in three-dimension, using a flat canvas.
