Abstract

The article is written in response to the recent publication in the “Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Series 8. Istoriya” by A.L. Rastorguev, specialist in medieval art, about Roland Recht’s Lecroire et le voir. L’art des cathédrales. XIIe–XVe siècle and its Russian translation. His “reflections” are the most detailed and scrupulous review of Recht’s book since its publication in 1999. Rastorguev severely criticizes both the book and its Russian translation. He touches upon a whole range of issues in the history of medieval art, including theoretical ones. Since this review, even if belated, questions the scientific character of the book, and at the same time the competence of its author and translator, the latter found it necessary to respond to most of the comments made in the review. Many of them are quite justified. The translation really has inaccuracies, some words are missing in it, and the reviewer carefully collated it with the original text. However, a good part of the remarks is the subject of academic debates and some of them are based on the reviewer’s preferences and taste. They cannot be regarded as the final truth and, therefore, may not serve as an argument for total condemnation of the book and its translation. The reviewer, who himself makes regrettable mistakes, does not offer any positive program, and some of his critical remarks concerning the book and its translation are completely groundless. A whole series of doubts raised by A.L. Rastorguev is related to pain points of art history, and this is precisely what makes Recht’s book an event. The polemic surrounding it speaks for itself. This response offers both an apology of the French book and an attempt at rehabilitating its Russian translation.