Items related to The Tree: Symbol, Allegory, and Mnemonic Device in...

The Tree: Symbol, Allegory, and Mnemonic Device in Medieval Art and Thought (International Medieval Research) - Softcover

Andrea Worm

 
9782503548395: The Tree: Symbol, Allegory, and Mnemonic Device in Medieval Art and Thought (International Medieval Research)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 2503548393 ISBN 13: 9782503548395
Publisher: Brepols Publishers, 2014

Synopsis

With its vital character - growing, flowering, extending its roots into the ground, and its branches and leaves to the sky - the tree is a polyvalent metaphor, a suggestive symbol, and an allegorical subject. During the Middle Ages, a number of iconographic schemata were based on the image and structure of the tree, including the Tree of Jesse and the Tree of Virtues and Vices. From the late eleventh century onwards such formulae were increasingly used as devices for organizing knowledge and representing theoretical concepts. Despite the abstraction inherent in these schemata, however, the semantic qualities of trees persist in their usage.

The analysis of different manifestations of trees in the Middle Ages is highly instructive for visual, intellectual, and cultural history. Essays in this volume concentrate on the formative period for arboreal imagery in the medieval West, that is, the eleventh to fifteenth centuries. Using a range of methodological strategies and examining material from different media, ranging from illuminated manuscripts to wall painting, stained glass windows, and monumental sculpture, the articles in this volume show how different arboreal structures were conceived, employed, and appropriated by their specific contexts, how they functioned in their original framework, and how they were perceived by their audience.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review

"...an effective assessment of the state of research relating to medieval visual representations of trees. Researchers working on specific artworks or historical contexts discussed in The Tree will also want to consult the volume. More broadly, the book will interest scholars studying word/image relationships, the role of diagrams in structuring knowledge, and mnemonic practices." ----Kerry Paul Boeye, The Medieval Review

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Brepols Publishers
Publication date
2014
Language
English
ISBN 10 
2503548393
ISBN 13 
9782503548395
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
258
Editor
Andrea Worm, Pippa Salonius