Making sense of the Bayeux Tapestry: Readings and reworkings (Studies in Design and Material Culture) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0719095352 ISBN 13: 9780719095351

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2016

Synopsis

This book aims to make sense of the Bayeux Tapestry by bringing together answers to a number of questions which this famous hanging presents to the viewer.

How did the embroiderers organise the stitching of the Bayeux Tapestry? Are its limited colours used with greater sophistication than viewers have recognised? What do we know of the Tapestry's supporting cast: naked figures in the margins and clerics present at events in the main register? Can we learn anything about the original purpose of the Tapestry from detailed examination of Bayeux Cathedral's 1476 Inventory, the first known reference to the Tapestry's existence? This book combines up-to-the-minute research with an introduction that draws on the contributors' personal observations in order to interrogate the Tapestry's enduring value. Bringing together contributions from leading specialists and newer voices in the field, it will be essential reading for students and scholars of the Bayeux Tapestry, medieval art and culture.

About this title

About the Author

Gale R. Owen-Crocker is Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture at the University of Manchester

From the Back Cover

This book combines up-to-the-minute research with an introduction that draws on contributors' personal observations in order to interrogate the Tapestry's enduring value. Issues under consideration include how the embroiderers organised the stitching of the Tapestry and whether the limited colour palette was used with greater sophistication than viewers have hitherto recognised. What we know of the Tapestry's supporting cast is also discussed: specifically the naked figures in the margins and the clerics present at events in the main register. With regard to the context of its production: can we learn more about the original purpose of the Tapestry from detailed examination of Bayeux Cathedral's inventory of 1476, the first known reference to its existence? Finally, what do the numerous facsimiles generated from the time of its discovery to the present day, and the twentieth-century emergence of new histories embroidered in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry, tell us about its continuing relevance?

Making sense of the Bayeux Tapestry brings together contributions from leading specialists Gale Owen-Crocker, Shirley Ann Brown, Elizabeth Pastan, and the Tapestry's curator, Sylvette Lemagnen, together with newer voices in the field. The collection will be essential reading for students and scholars of the Bayeux Tapestry and medieval art and culture.

Edition details

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0719095352
• ISBN 13: 9780719095351
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 232
• Editor: Henderson Anna