Hugh of St. Victor’s De tribus diebus on beauty, image, and the divine

Abstract

The paper examines Hugh of St. Victor’s De tribus diebus as one of the earliest medieval attempts at a theology of beauty. In this treatise, Hugh reframes the image not as a deceptive imitation but as a medium of divine revelation. Created beauty is portrayed as a trace of the Creator, guiding the soul toward contemplation and union with God. Against (radically) dualistic tendencies that entirely dismissed the physical world and its beauty, Hugh affirms its philosophico-theological significance, situating it within a Christocentric framework in which the visible world participates in divine Wisdom. By comparing Hugh’s vision with Jean-Jacques Wunenburger’s philosophy of images, the study highlights a continuity across time: both affirm the key value of images; not merely as objects to behold, but as channels through which humans perceive, engage with, and are drawn toward the transcendent source of reality and meaning.