Trinity of body, medium and image in Hans belting's view

Hans Belting’s thesis of image anthropology (Bild-Anthropologie) for the analysis of image characteristics has its roots in the tradition of philosophical anthropology. He holds that in the analysis of every image the trinary components of medium، body and image; together must be taken into consideration، and these components are thus inseparable. Belting’s definition of each of these components also differs from the traditional view، such that he doesn’t regard the medium as merely the mediator for the image، rather each image’s existence is dependent on a medium. Also، the body (Körper) can play multiple roles، as the medium of the image، the image itself، or the recipient of the image. He believes that every image is a substitutionary body for an absence; hence the idea of loss or death can in a way be regarded as the origin of the image. Belting’s view as to image anthropology gives rise to a new iconology، the aim of which is the analysis of images on the grounds of their own logic، rather than analyzing them on the basis of written texts.