Detailed analysis of an iconographic motif of huge significance in European art. The image of the `Madonna of Humility', the Virgin and Child seated on the ground, is widespread in European art, yet it remains mysterious. This book provides a detailed and accessible investigation and explication of the theme'smultiple significances, and of other associated images (including the Virgin suckling the Child, the Woman of the Apocalypse and the Virgin Annunciate). It takes issue with the orthodox view of the origins of the image lying in the work of Simone Martini at Avignon, suggesting a longer process of development, with a key role for manuscript illumination in Metz. Subsequent chapters pursue the assimilation, appropriation, and adjustment of the image in a number of regions across Europe, challenging the simplistic idea of unequivocal iconographic meaning determined solely by the context of the image's genesis. The book argues for an essential fluidity and negotiability of meaning inthe visual arts, challenging the very idea of unitary and unequivocal iconographic readings; and its examination of the multi-layered functions of the image in different contexts and different regions provides not just an iconographical case-study, but a cultural history of a devotional resource with Europe-wide implications Dr BETH WILLIAMSON teaches in the Department of Art History, University of Bristol.

Richly-illustrated consideration of the meaning of the carvings of non-human beings, from centaurs to eagles, found in ecclesiastical settings. Representations of monsters and the monstrous are common in medieval art and architecture, from the grotesques in the borders of illuminated manuscripts to the symbol of the "green man", widespread in churches and cathedrals. These mysterious depictions are frequently interpreted as embodying or mitigating the fears symptomatic of a "dark age". This book, however, considers an alternative scenario: in what ways did monsters in twelfth-century sculpture help audiences envision, perhaps even achieve, various ambitions? Using examples of Romanesque sculpture from across Europe, with a focus on France and northern Portugal, the author suggests that medieval representations of monsterscould service ideals, whether intellectual, political, religious, and social, even as they could simultaneously articulate fears; he argues that their material presence energizes works of art in paradoxical, even contradictory ways. In this way, Romanesque monsters resist containment within modern interpretive categories and offer testimony to the density and nuance of the medieval imagination. KIRK AMBROSE is Associate Professor & Chair, Department of Art and Art History, University of Colorado Boulder.

An illustrated manual showing how a medieval tournament was organised, here presented in three volumes with essays on various aspects of the manuscript. Rene d'Anjou's Livre des tournois is famous as the most substantial account of the organisation of a medieval tournament that has come down to us. It survives in eight manuscripts, most of which have an almost identical layout; the best of these is a magnificent work of art in its own right. But these manuscripts have a further interest to the historian of culture, because they represent in effect the evidence for one of the first illustrated manuals, in which text and image are complementary, and form a single whole. The copyists understood this, and followed the original because the mise en page was an essential part of the whole. Justin Sturgeon's interdisciplinary study reveals the patterns and relationships which give the manual its very specific character. The study begins by exploring the relationship between the work's images and text, and brings into focus the author's identity as an authority on the subject matter. Next, the use and depiction of heraldry as essential to the construction of an embedded visual narrative within the work is explored. We then turn to the subject matter and to Rene's sources for the work and the form of tournament he describes, are examined and the author shows that Rene was drawing on specific precedents to construct his idealized version of such an event. Analysis of the visual presentation uses spatial and ritual theory to engage with a series of spectacles surrounding the punishment and review of the noble tourneyers. The last section of the book concentrates on the physical manuscripts.The codicological, textual and visual evidence from all eight known medieval manuscript copies is used to construct a new understanding of the provenance and transmission of the work, before turning to scrutinize the reception of two copies in detail. The conclusion draws together threads of identity, authority, and the importance of the Livre des tournois as a product of the culture and circumstances of its production. A series of appendices forms the second volume and directly supports the book. These appendices include the first scholarly edition of the source manuscript to make use of all eight medieval manuscripts,with full supporting data. The third volume contains 300 images of vital comparisons in high resolution close-ups using a special technique developed by the author which highlights important details within images while showing the detail in the context of the whole picture. Three Volume set.

This book examines the architecture and urbanism in the Venetian colonies of the Eastern Mediterranean and how their built environments express the close cultural ties with both Venice and Byzantium. Using the island of Crete and its capital city, Candia (modern Herakleion) as a case study, Maria Georgopoulou exposes the dynamic relationship that existed between colonizer and colony. Georgopoulou demonstrates how the Venetian colonists manipulated Crete's past history in order to support and legitimate colonial rule, particularly through the appropriation of older Byzantine traditions in civic and religious ceremonies.

This book reveals the interrelationship of text and picture in the only surviving illustrated Anglo-Saxon poetic manuscript. It locates the manuscript within the broader cultural contexts in which it was produced and read, and documents the way in which it was transformed by poets, artists, and modern scholars and editors from a collection of biblical poetry to a national historical narrative.

This study deals with the work of the most prolific Dutch book illuminators, the so-called Masters of the Dark Eyes, named after the most conspicuous aspect of their style: the dark, heavily accentuated shadows round the eyes of the figures. With their elaborately illuminated manuscripts, these masters completely dominated book production in the County of Holland during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Their work is characterized by an overwhelming wealth of decorative and pictorial richness, which is especially evident in the unusually ornate programmes of the Books of Hours, and a new type of border decoration derived from the Ghent-Bruges School. This style of painting was practised by many artists of differing talents, as demonstrated by the large number of surviving manuscripts. Not all of the illuminators worked in Holland. Some of them settled in the Southern Netherlands, others emigrated to England, where they illuminated manuscripts for members of the English court. This monograph seeks to order, analyze and evaluate the work of the Masters of the Dark Eyes, and to position their achievements within the context of book illumination in the Northern Netherlands during the "Waning of the Middle Ages." It explores a virtually uncharted territory of Dutch manuscript painting. The accompanying descriptive catalogue provides complementary information on more than 70 manuscripts, many of which have never been published at length before. The work is illustrated with a wide selection of colour and black-and-white reproductions.

In this new edition of A Short History of the Middle Ages, Barbara H. Rosenwein offers a panoramic view of the medieval world. Volume II ranges from England to China and from West Africa to the Baltic, while never losing sight of the main contours of the period c.900 to c.1500. The lively and informative narrative covers the major developments, political and religious movements, people, saints and sinners, economic and cultural changes, ideals, fears, and fantasies of the period in Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic world. A comprehensive new map program, updated for the global reach of this edition, offers a way to visualize the era's enormous political, economic, and religious changes. Line drawings make clear archaeological finds and architectural structures. All of the maps, genealogies, and figures in the book, as well as practice questions and suggested answers, are available at utphistorymatters.com.

This book is concerned with the pictorial language of gesture revealed in Anglo-Saxon art, and its debt to classical Rome. The late Reginald Dodwell, an eminent art historian, notes a striking similarity of both form and meaning between Anglo-Saxon gestures and those in illustrated manuscripts of the plays of Terence, which, he argues, reflect actual Roman stage conventions. The extensively illustrated volume illuminates our understanding of the vigor of late Anglo-Saxon art and its ability to absorb and transpose continental influence.

Despite China's long tradition of venerating the past as the ultimate source of cultural authority, the discourse of antiquity prior to the Song period (960-1279) demonstrated little concern for ancient objects. With a focus on physical artifacts of the past, Song intellectuals began a new discipline, "the study of bronze and stone" (jinshixue), that generated collections of items such as bronze vessels and bells, stone steles, and ink rubbings of inscriptions carved or cast on objects. This first comprehensive study in English of the Song antiquarian movement and how it refashioned the distant past uses textual and material evidence to examine this development, which has had long-lasting influence on Chinese intellectual history and on the preservation of material objects. In addition to collecting and comparing artifacts, Song antiquaries compiled extensive catalogs that included drawings, measurements, and meticulous descriptions. Their studies have contributed to the way history has been documented since the eleventh century and serve as a basis for archaeology of the modern period. Bronze and Stone contextualizes the Song antiquarian movement among previous Chinese engagements with antiquity, subsequent popular interest in ancient objects, and world antiquarianism.

In this study, Suzanne Lewis argues that the Bayeux Tapestry is one of the first large-scale visual narratives of the Middle Ages that, moreover, conveys medieval conceptions regarding the pictorialized text. More than a reinterpretation of the historical evidence related to the Tapestry, Lewis' study explores the visual and textual strategies and conventions that have made this work such a powerful statement for audiences over the centuries.

This study examines the narrative paintings of the Passion of Christ created in Italy during the thirteenth century. Demonstrating the radical changes that occurred in the depiction of the Passion cycle during the Duecento, a period that has traditionally been dismissed as artistically stagnant, Anne Derbes analyzes the relationship between these new images and similar renderings found in Byzantine sources. She argues that the Franciscan order, which was active in the Levant by the 1230s, was largely responsible for introducing these images into Italy.

Essays on aspects of iconography as manifested in the material culture of medieval England. Professor Jane Hawkes has devoted her career to the study of medieval stone, exploring its iconographies, symbolic significances and scholarly contexts, and shedding light on the obscure and understudied sculpted stone monuments of Anglo-Saxon England. This volume builds on her scholarly interests, offering new engagements with medieval culture and the current scholarly methodologies that shape the discipline. The contributors approach several significantobjects and texts from the early and later Middle Ages, working across several disciplinary backgrounds and periods, largely focusing on the Insular World as it intersects with wider global contexts of the period. The chapters cover a wide range of subjects, from the material culture of baptism, to the material, symbolic and iconographic consideration of the artistic outputs of the Insular world, with essays on sculpture, metalwork, glass and manuscripts,to ideas of stone and salvation in both material and textual contexts, to intellectual puzzles and patterns - both material and mathematic - to consideration of the ways in which the conversion to Christianity played out on the landscape. MEG BOULTON is Research Affiliate and Visiting Lecturer in the History of Art Department at the University of York; MICHAEL D.J. BINTLEY is Lecturer in Early Medieval Literature and Culture at Birkbeck, University of London. Contributors: Elizabeth Alexander, Michael Brennan, Melissa Herman, Mags Mannion, Thomas Pickles, Harry Stirrup, Heidi Stoner, Colleen Thomas, Philippa Turner, Carolyn Twomey,

This book provides a standard introduction to Byzantine art and architecture for the university student and for anyone seriously interested in the subject. It covers the whole Byzantine period from the fourth to the fourteenth century in a systematic manner, by period, dealing with material culture under main section headings (such as architecture, sculpture, monumental art, minor arts and manuscripts) for ease of reference. The text is illustrated by well over 300 maps, plans and halftones.

This series is designed to make accessible the insights, discoveries, and considered judgements in the field of medieval art of Francis Wormald (1904-72)--one of the great paleographers of our time. This second volume collects thirteen important and hard-to-find papers on such subjects as "Continental Influence on English Medieval Illumination," "The Fitzwarin Psalter," and "The Wilton Diptych."

With over 200 color illustrations, Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads examines in detail the eclectic iconography of the Byzantine period and its impact on design and creativity today. Through an examination of the extraordinary variety of designs in these captivating silks, an international team of experts reveal that Byzantine culture was ever-moving and open to diverse influences across the length of the Silk Road. Commentaries from curators at key collections - including the Museum of Arts, Boston, the Smithsonian (Cooper Hewitt), the V&A and the Vatican - reveal the spread of silk embroidery and designs from East to West, and from West to East, from China to Rome, and from Constantinople to Korea. Drawing on exclusive imagery from worldwide collections within museums, churches and archives as case studies, their analysis of these unique woven silks explores the relationship between color and power, material culture and status, and offers broader insight into Byzantine culture, trade, society and ceremony. Byzantine Silk ... takes us on a journey from the past to the present, too, where Byzantine story-telling and image-making is revisited, through color, imagery and pattern, in contemporary fashion collections. Exploring Byzantine culture through a contemporary filter, the book shows how the Byzantine era still influences textile and fashion designers today in their choices of materials and colors, and their utilization of images and patterns, acting as a unique source of inspiration to designers and creators in the 21st century.

Goldsmiths' products examined, combining discussion of object with analysis of inscription and design, and literary and archaeological evidence for smiths and their work. Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period, goldsmiths produced work of a high standard in both design and craftsmanship, both for personal adornment, and to embellish bookbindings, reliquaries, vessels and weapons. Some works are well known, particularly the magnificent gold and garnet regalia from Sutton Hoo, but this represents only a fraction even of the surviving work, and much more has been lost. This book is the first to look at the goldsmiths' products through the eyes of both a specialist in the period and a practical craftsman, combining close examination of the surface and structure of the objects with analysis of inscriptions and evidence for design, and with literary and visualsources of evidence for smiths and their work. Archaeological and documentary evidence for workshops, tools and working processes is also assessed, and up-to-date technical information on materials and techniques is juxtaposed with new practical research to throw light on manufacturing and decorative processes, and, more widely, to give a fresh idea of the position of the goldsmith in his society. Dr ELIZABETH COATSWORTH is Senior Lecturer inthe Department of History of Art and Design, Manchester Metropolitan University; Dr MICHAEL PINDER is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Architecture, Landscape and 3DD, at the same university.

A fascinating guide to decoding the secret language of the churches of England through the medieval carved markings and personal etchings found on our church walls from archaeologist Matthew Champion. 'Rare, lovely glimmers of everyday life in the Middle Ages.' -- The Sunday Times 'A fascinating and enjoyable read' -- ***** Reader review 'Superb' -- ***** Reader review 'Riveting' -- ***** Reader review 'Compelling, moving and fascinating' -- ***** Reader review ***************************************************************************************************** Our churches are full of hidden messages from years gone by and for centuries these carved writings and artworks have lain largely unnoticed. Having launched a nationwide survey to gather the best examples, archaeologist Matthew Champion shines a spotlight on a forgotten world of ships, prayers for good fortune, satirical cartoons, charms, curses, windmills, word puzzles, architectural plans and heraldic designs. Here are strange medieval beasts, knights battling unseen dragons, ships sailing across lime-washed oceans and demons who stalk the walls. Latin prayers for the dead jostle with medieval curses, builders' accounts and slanderous comments concerning a long-dead archdeacon. Strange and complex geometric designs, created to ward off the 'evil eye' and thwart the works of the devil, share church pillars with the heraldic shields of England's medieval nobility. Giving a voice to the secret graffiti artists of Medieval times, this engaging, enthralling and - at times - eye-opening book, with a glossary of key terms and a county-by-county directory of key churches, will put this often overlooked period in a whole new light.

Before the late sixteenth century, the churches of Florence were internally divided by monumental screens that separated the laity in the nave from the clergy in the choir precinct. Enabling both separation and mediation, these screens were impressive artistic structures that controlled social interactions, facilitated liturgical performances, and variably framed or obscured religious ritual and imagery. In the 1560s and 70s, screens were routinely destroyed in a period of religious reforms, irreversibly transforming the function, meaning, and spatial dynamics of the church interior. In this volume, Joanne Allen explores the widespread presence of screens and their role in Florentine social and religious life prior to the Counter-Reformation. She presents unpublished documentation and new reconstructions of screens and the choir precincts which they delimited. Elucidating issues such as gender, patronage, and class, her study makes these vanished structures comprehensible and deepens our understanding of the impact of religious reform on church architecture.

Opulent jeweled objects ranked among the most highly valued works of art in the European Middle Ages. At the same time, precious stones prompted sophisticated reflections on the power of nature and the experience of mineralized beings. Beyond a visual regime that put a premium on brilliant materiality, how can we account for the ubiquity of gems in medieval thought? In The Mineral and the Visual, art historian Brigitte Buettner examines the social roles, cultural meanings, and active agency of precious stones in secular medieval art. Exploring the layered roles played by gems in aesthetic, ideological, intellectual, and economic practices, Buettner focuses on three significant categories of art: the jeweled crown, the pictorialized lapidary, and the illustrated travel account. The global gem trade brought coveted jewels from the Indies to goldsmiths' workshops in Paris, fashionable bodies in London, and the crowns of kings across Europe, and Buettner shows that Europe's literal and metaphorical enrichment was predicated on the importation of gems and ideas from Byzantium, the Islamic world, Persia, and India. Original, transhistorical, and cross-disciplinary, The Mineral and the Visual engages important methodological questions about the work of culture in its material dimension. It will be especially useful to scholars and students interested in medieval art history, material culture, and medieval history.

Most people today think of the Middle Ages as a time when cloistered monks wrote and read only in now-obscure languages. Of course, Latin was the language of those who aspired to literacy, and it was the language of the Church. But what many do not realize is that by the thirteenth and fourteenth century (and certainly well before Columbus discovered America in 1492), numerous books became available in the everyday languages spoken "at the court, on the street, and in the bedroom." This catalogue focuses on just such manuscripts, written for people at diverse levels of society, not only the privileged aristocracy, but doctors, artisans, townspeople, women, the clergy, and the lay devout. The Middle Classes imitated the nobility in commissioning vernacular manuscripts. Texts of patriotic history and good manners and courtly romance entered manorial households. Literacy moved away from the Latin-based monopoly of the Church. It may be that the owners were actually reading texts themselves, whereas a great prince or king of an earlier generation would often have heard a story read aloud. By the fourteenth century the mercantile classes needed to read in order to conduct commerce, and it was usually in their own languages. At the end of the Middle Ages probably most people in towns had some experience of literacy. Conventional Latin texts give a picture of a quite narrow intellectual elite, but the vernacular encompassed everyone. For example, giving advice to widows, a translator puts Saint Jerome's famous letters into French in a unique copy probably for a high-born woman. She is pictured in the book. Toiling in the Italian metal industry in towns, metalworkers can follow instructions on minting gold and silver coins in their own language. The manuscript is on paper in simple, yet readable script. Fancifully dressed carnival revelers cavort through the streets of medieval Nuremberg throwing fi reworks amidst fl oats and even an occasional elephant; the German text celebrates the sponsoring families of the event. The Founder and President of Les Enluminures (and medievalist), Sandra Hindman reminisces "I have worked on vernacular manuscripts all my life and they are closest to my heart. Like the experience of reading a good book today, vernacular manuscripts off er an adventure into an unknown world that brings to life people, places, and events of long ago."

This extensively illustrated book discusses the representation of women in the art of the late Middle Ages in Northern Europe. Drawing on a wide range of different media, but making particular use of the rich plethora of woodcuts, the author charts how the images of women changed during the period and proposes two basic categories - the Virgin and Eve, good and evil. Within these, however, we discover attitudes to sinful, foolish, married and unmarried women and the style and use of these images exposes the full extent of the misogyny entrenched in medieval society. Interesting too is the variety of 'good' women and how they were used to confirm the social position of women throughout different classes. We also learn how women fought back: starting in the margins of manuscripts and them emerging in misericords, we find images of women making fools of men; love triangles; and unequal couples, where the women 'wear the trousers'. With the advent of printing, a whole genre of satirical prints about women snowballed, and the views they express became available for mass consumption. This fascinating and rich study charts this process in a lively and readable way.

This publication brings together 27 objects that were made in Europe during the Middle Ages, between the 11th and the early 16th centuries. They represent some of the finest examples of sculpture, metalwork, painting, drawing, and stained glass still in private hands, and together offer a startling insight into the period's rich artistic achievements.