2025/03/01 by Stefano de Bosio · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · #Architecture and Art History Studies #Historical Art and Architecture Studies #Renaissance Literature and Culture
paper · pdf · doi:10.1515/zkg-2025-1003
openalex publication_date 2025/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract Although left-right reversal is intrinsic to many image-making technologies, art history has paid limited attention so far to the wide range of its operational and theoretical implications. Focusing on the layered production of meaning characterizing early modern prints, this essay examines the variety of attitudes that existed toward lateral reversal in Western printmaking and how they have been assessed by art history. By engaging with intersecting perspectives from disciplinary discourses, it ultimately advocates for the historical and theoretical significance of those images that exist in either of their possible lateral orientations: images that unfold themselves as they migrate across media as well as through the imagination of artists and viewers alike.