Pentcheva, Bissera V.

PERSONAL:

Education: Dartmouth College, B.A.; Harvard University, Ph.D., 2001.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Art and Art History, Nathan Cummings Art Building, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. E-mail—bissera@stanford.edu.

CAREER:

Writer, educator, lecturer, and art historian. Stanford University, assistant professor of art history, 2003—. Columbia University, educator. Lecturer and speaker at universities in the United States and abroad. Presenter at academic meetings and symposia.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Columbia University postdoctoral fellowship; Dumbarton Oaks Junior Fellowship; Onassis Foundation postdoctoral fellowship; Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowship.

WRITINGS:

Icons and Power: The Mother of God in Byzantium, Pennsylvania State University Press (University Park, PA), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Bissera V. Pentcheva is a writer, educator, and art historian at Stanford University, where she has been an assistant professor of art history since 2003. She has taught at Columbia University and at Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence. She frequently writes on topics related to religion in Byzantium, beginning with her Ph.D. dissertation at Harvard University that concerned the Cult of the Virgin as it existed in Byzantium. Pentcheva's academic research "focuses on aesthetics, the five senses in the perception of medieval art, performance and ritual, medieval image theory, and the rise of the relief icon in Byzantium," according to her biography on the Stanford University Web site. Other work focuses on the "tactile visuality and the sensory experience" of Byzantine icons. She is a frequent presenter and lecturer at conferences and academic meetings around the world, where she discusses the results of her research on Byzantine iconography and religious practice.

In Icons and Power: The Mother of God in Byzantium, her first book, Pentcheva explores in depth the origins and significance of the cult of the Mother of God in Byzantium. The book is derived in part from her Harvard doctoral thesis. She delves deeply into the "chronological development of public and ‘official’ veneration of the Virgin Mary in the Byzantine empire; and the political ‘use’ of the theological meanings and liturgical experiences of images of Mary the Mother of God by Byzantine emperors and their families," stated Theological Studies reviewer Joanne M. Pierce. Pentcheva examines how a major shift occurred in the Byzantine cult's religious observance during the late tenth century when attention shifted from relics to icons. She offers a "comprehensive theory of the development of the importance of icons" of the Mother of God, or the Virgin Mary, reported a Reference & Research Book News contributor. Pentcheva also looks at how icons functioned as a source of imperial claims to legitimacy and divine protection throughout the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Perhaps most significantly, she suggests that "devotion to images of the Mother of God developed later than is usually believed, after the eighth-century period of Iconoclasm rather than before," reported Liz James, writing in Art Bulletin.

The book is a "significant contribution to the study of the medieval interpretations of the Virgin," commented Rossitza B. Schroeder in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Her "study is multifaceted: it combines philological acumen and admirable art historical expertise. The scope of this work is impressive and its aim ambitious," Schroeder continued. In the end, Schroeder observed, "one of the most important contributions of [Pentcheva's] work is the study of the ways the cult of Mary, and more specifically of her images, was wedded to ideas of imperial victory and legitimate power."

Pentcheva looks carefully at the origins of the Cult of the Mother of God, describing in depth the connections between the Virgin and the Byzantine imperial family. She notes how images of the Virgin became important in justifying dynastic rule, particularly in the eighth century when the concept of continuous hereditary rule was first introduced during the Isaurian dynasty. She discusses the combination of images of the Virgin Mary with military concepts such as victory and invincibility, and how this militarization of images of the Virgin was connected to the rise of later emperors. In the second half of the book, Pentcheva looks at the importance of the development of icon processions, and how Kommenian emperors used these images to support and promote their rule. "The emphasis is on the elaborate interactions between icons and emperors," Schroeder noted. "Pentcheva's book provides a significant response to the issue regarding the relationship of the cult of relics and the cult of images, and offers insight into new iconographic formulae that characterized Marian images of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries," commented Kirstin Noreen in the Journal of Church and State.

"This book will surely remain one of the important studies of the Byzantine images of Mary," Schroeder concluded. Pentcheva's "analysis of literary and visual sources is confidently stated, and in most cases is ingenious and penetrating, although with certain shortcomings," Schroeder stated. "The book is well written in good and precise prose and laid out with logical clarity," commented Cecily Hennessy, writing in the Catholic Historical Review. Hennessy also noted that in making her arguments, Pentcheva is "in com- mand of many texts (chronicles, hymns, sermons, poems) used to deepen her arguments and draws on extensive supplementary material such as coins, seals, ivories, and paintings." James offered a similar observation, stating that "Pentcheva's command of the textual sources is particularly impressive and wide-ranging." James noted that Pentcheva does not address theoretical concerns or medieval visual culture in her book. "What this book has to offer instead is its breadth of knowledge, its raising of significant and interesting questions, and its reformulation for Byzantinists of several important issues in Byzantine studies. Its redating of the growth of the public cult of Mary and its discussion of the nature of that cult in particular are areas that will occupy scholars for some time to come," James concluded.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Art Bulletin, June, 2007, Liz James, review of Icons and Power: The Mother of God in Byzantium, p. 366.

Bryn Mawr Classical Review, May 11, 2007, Rossitza B. Schroeder, review of Icons and Power.

Catholic Historical Review, July, 2007, Cecily Hennessy, review of Icons and Power, p. 616.

Choice: Current Reviews in Academic Libraries, December, 2006, L. Doumato, review of Icons and Power, p. 637.

Journal of Church and State, spring, 2007, Kirstin Noreen, review of Icons and Power, p. 361.

Medieval Review, October, 2006, Glenn Peers, review of Icons and Power.

Reference & Research Book News, August, 2006, review of Icons and Power.

Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, July, 2007, John Osborne, review of Icons and Power, p. 749.

Theological Studies, December, 2007, Joanne M. Pierce, review of Icons and Power, p. 959.

ONLINE

Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources Web site,http://library.stanford.edu/ (March 5, 2007), biography of Bissera V. Pentcheva.

Stanford University Web site,http://www.stanford.edu/ (July 16, 2008), biography of Bissera Pentcheva.