The Afflicted Body of Job and the Aesthetic of Wholeness in Gothic Sculpture

Gothic sculptures depicting the afflicted body of Job (c. 1210–1235) challenge medieval aesthetic ideals by portraying physical suffering as compatible with inner virtue, offering a counter-narrative to the prevailing discourse of bodily wholeness. These works, found in Notre-Dame cathedrals of Paris and Reims, depict Job as an emaciated figure tormented by the Devil, yet their iconography varies subtly across sites, suggesting localized theological or symbolic meanings. The study argues that these sculptures represent a deliberate artistic shift—balancing realism with idealization—to convey the beauty of sanctity through affliction, providing new insights for disability studies and medieval art history.

Feltman, J. M. (2022). The Afflicted Body of Job and the Aesthetic of Wholeness in Gothic Sculpture. The Routledge Companion to Art and Disability, 149–167. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003009986-12