space, sculpture, and community in the cathedrals of France and Germany, ca. 1200-1400 /
Jacqueline E. Jung
New York :
Cambridge University Press,
2012
xix, 282 p. :
ill. (some col.) ;
29 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index
Part I. The Screen as sculpture: 1. The choir screen as partition. 2. The choir screen as bridge. 3. The choir screen as frame -- Part II. The Sculpture on the screen: 4. Women, men and the social order. 5. Jews, Christians and the question of the individual. 6. Nobles, peasants and the vernacular mode
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"In the Catharijneconvent Museum in Utrecht there hangs a panel painting whose diminutive size belies the magnificence of its contents (Plate I). Supporting a soaring canopy of rib vaults, two rows of polished marble columns mark the outer boundaries of the picture; their lower halves are concealed, however, by luminous winged altarpieces - most opened to display their gilt interiors, one decorated with paintings, and one still closed. But the sumptuousness of these material accoutrements carries little weight to the twenty-two tonsured men who fill the central space. With hands tucked into their gleaming white robes and mouths gently open as if in song, they gaze in quiet admiration at the Virgin Mary, dazzling with her loose golden locks and glittering crown, her gown of brocaded gold and purple velvet mantle, and the luminous infant she proffers to St. Dominic, the foremost friar. Whereas the phalanx of men forms a symmetrical buffer around the maiden and baby on the church's central axis, the scene is not wholly static. Following the steep orthogonals created jointly by architecture and figures, we discover the beginnings of movement as the two men farthest from our standpoint, thus deepest in the pictorial space, prepare to enter the choir"--
"This book reveals how Gothic choir screens, through both their architecture and sculpture, were vital vehicles of communication and shapers of community within the Christian church"--
Christian art and symbolism-- France-- Medieval, 500-1500
Christian art and symbolism-- Germany-- Medieval, 500-1500
Screens (Church decoration)-- France
Screens (Church decoration)-- Germany
Sculpture, Gothic-- France-- Themes, motives
Sculpture, Gothic-- Germany-- Themes, motives
Space (Architecture)-- Social aspects-- France-- History-- To 1500
Space (Architecture)-- Social aspects-- Germany-- History-- To 1500