Objects, Images, and the Word: Art in the Service of the Liturgy (Index of Christian Art Occasional Papers) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691115389 ISBN 13: 9780691115382

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2003

Synopsis

The medieval liturgy was in many ways a performance in which the worshipper was transformed into both actor and audience--an act of intense involvement steeped in spoken words, music, and images alike. Of all these elements, art was arguably paramount: it transformed the physical setting of this ritual, shaped the medieval sense of belief, and guided the faithful toward a fuller comprehension of the word. The complex and always evolving relationship between the liturgy and the wide range of art that it influenced is the subject of the thirteen scholars who present their recent work in this richly illustrated volume.


The authors' approaches are as varied as the objects they examine, which range from sumptuous codexes, altarpieces, metal shrines, ivories, and the expansive stained-glass windows of the Sainte-Chapelle to more humble artifacts such as baptismal fonts, choir stalls, and drinking horns. One of the many conclusions that emerge from these essays is that "liturgical art" was far from being a rigidly controlled or formulaic genre. Throughout the Middle Ages it could--and did--respond readily and in nuanced detail to the changing expectations of the devout, the taste and demands of individuals, and even the lingering presence of secular and pagan objects.


The contributors are Adelaide Bennett, Elaine C. Block, Lisa Victoria Ciresi, Michael Curschmann, William J. Diebold, Julian Gardner, Alyce A. Jordan, Peter Lasko, John Lowden, Carol Neuman de Vegvar, Harriet M. Sonne de Torrens, Elizabeth C. Teviotdale, and Beth Williamson.

About this title

About the Author

Colum Hourihane is Director of the Index of Christian Art, Princeton University. He is the editor of five other Princeton books, including Insights and Interpretations and Virtue and Vice.

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691115389
• ISBN 13: 9780691115382
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352
• Editor: Hourihane Colum