Begun in 1951 by monks at the abbey of La Pierre-qui-Vire in Burgundy, the Zodiaque publications consisted of a triennial journal and multiple series of books, including the most famous: La Nuit des temps. The editors’ goal was to renew sacred art for twentieth-century viewers by making connections between the direct, “primitive” character of pre-Gothic religious art and an emerging modernist aesthetic. Focusing almost exclusively on Romanesque architecture and sculptural decoration, Zodiaque revived the style’s richness and variety, bringing to light monuments lost to popular currency and visually shaping their reception with a new eye to graphic forms. What captured the public imagination and brought the Zodiaque books to international attention was their primary feature: striking black-and-white photogravures. These powerful images went beyond documentary photography to become collectible graphic prints, shaping the plastic form seen by the camera into a fresh two-dimensional artwork. In Zodiaque, Janet Marquardt explores the motivations, philosophies, and workshop practices of Éditions Zodiaque and how they affected the scholarly discourse on medieval art and architecture.

Medieval Art and Architecture after the Middle Ages explores the endurance of and nostalgia for medieval monuments through their reception in later periods, specifically illuminating the myriad ways in which tangible and imaginary artifacts of the Middle Ages have served to articulate contemporary aspirations and anxieties. The essays in this interdisciplinary collection examine the afterlife of medieval works through their preservation, restoration, appropriation, and commodification in America, Great Britain, and across Europe from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. From the evocation of metaphors and tropes, to monumental projects of restoration and recreation-medieval visual culture has had a tremendous purchase in the construction of political, religious, and cultural practices of the Modern era. The authors assembled here engage a diverse spectrum of works, from Irish ruins and a former Florentine prison to French churches and American department stores, and an equally diverse array of media ranging from architecture and manuscripts to embroidery, monumental sculpture, and metalwork. With applications not only to the study of art and architecture, but also encompassing such varied fields as commerce, city planning, education, literature, collecting and exhibition design, this copiously illustrated anthology comprises a significant contribution to the study of medieval art and medievalism.