This collection contains 22 of George Zarnecki's studies, produced within the last 12 years, which provide a guide to recent research on English Romanesque sculpture. The articles include discussions of the links between English and Norman sculpture, iconographical problems, Romanesque sculpture in England, Norman art in Britain, English art around 1180 and a consideration of the Eadwine psalter and the patronage of Henry of Blois.

A fully updated and comprehensive companion to Romanesque and Gothic art history This definitive reference brings together cutting-edge scholarship devoted to the Romanesque and Gothic traditions in Northern Europe and provides a clear analytical survey of what is happening in this major area of Western art history. The volume comprises original theoretical, historical, and historiographic essays written by renowned and emergent scholars who discuss the vibrancy of medieval art from both thematic and sub-disciplinary perspectives. Part of the Blackwell Companions to Art History, A Companion to Medieval Art, Second Edition features an international and ambitious range of contributions covering reception, formalism, Gregory the Great, pilgrimage art, gender, patronage, marginalized images, the concept of spolia, manuscript illumination, stained glass, Cistercian architecture, art of the crusader states, and more. Newly revised edition of a highly successful companion, including 11 new articles Comprehensive coverage ranging from vision, materiality, and the artist through to architecture, sculpture, and painting Contains full-color illustrations throughout, plus notes on the book’s many distinguished contributors A Companion to Medieval Art: Romanesque and Gothic in Northern Europe, Second Edition is an exciting and varied study that provides essential reading for students and teachers of Medieval art.

Professor Zarnecki is the leading authority on English medieval sculpture. The present volume has assembled his major articles on Romanesque art published before 1979. These studies are primarily concerned with the changes that took place in English sculpture during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and attempt to set developments in English art over this period within a European context. The volume also deals with Romanesque sculpture in France and Italy, together with metalwork and woodcarving in England, and includes a number of important iconographical studies. The author has up-dated his earlier studies to incorporate the results of subsequent research, and has augmented several studies with added bibliographical notes or references to more recent discoveries. Additional illustrations have been added where necessary, including photographs of a number of monuments which were previously unpublished.

The nineteen papers collected in this volume explore a notable phenomenon, that of retrospection in the art and architecture of Romanesque Europe. They arise from a conference organized by the British Archaeological Association in 2010, and reflect its interest in how and why the past manifested itself in the visual culture of the 11th and 12th centuries. This took many forms, from the casual re-use of ancient material to a specific desire to re-present or emulate earlier objects and buildings. Central to it is a concern for the revival of Roman and early medieval forms, spolia, selective quotation, archaism and the construction of histories. The individual essays presented here cover a wide range of topics and media: the significance of consecration ceremonies in the creation of architectural memory, the rise of pictorial concepts in 12th-century chronicles, the creation of history in the Paris of Hugh of St-Victor, and the appeal of the works of Bernward of Hildesheim and of Hrabanus Maurus in the centuries after their deaths. There are studies of buildings and the ideological purpose behind them at Tarragona, Ripoll, Cluny, Pannonhalma (Hungary), La Roccelletta (Calabria), and Old St Peter's, comparative studies of Trier, Villenauxe and Glastonbury, and of Bury St Edmunds, Rievaulx and Canterbury, and wide-ranging papers on the tantalizing evidence for an engagement with an overseas past in Ireland, an Anglo-Saxon past in England, and a Milanese past among the aisleless cruciform churches of Augustinian Europe. The volume concludes with an assessment of the very concept of Romanesque.

Understanding Art is a two-volume, fully illustrated work that strives to explain and discuss four important periods in the history of western art--the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque. It aims to create a sense of understanding, recognition, and appreciation of art by analysing, within the four periods, three distinct artistic genres: painting; sculpture; and architecture. Besides the excellence of the illustrations, one of the great virtues of this book is its clear and concise explanations. It is truly an excellent first stop for anyone embarking on a serious study of art--or anyone wishing to refresh his or her memory of the facts about the art history of the western world.

Baptismal fonts were necessary to the liturgical life of the medieval Christian. Baptism marked the entrance of the faithful into the right relation, with the Catholic Church representing the main cultural institution of medieval society. In the period between ca. 1050 and ca. 1220, the decoration of the font often had an important function: to underscore the theology of baptism in the context of the sacraments of the Catholic Church. This period witnessed a surge of concern about sacraments. Just as religious thinkers attempted to delineate the sacraments and define their function in sermons and Sentence collections, sculptural programs visualized the teaching of orthodox ideas for the lay audience. This book looks at three areas of primary concern around baptism as a sacrament – incarnation, initiation, and the practice of baptism within the institution of the Church – and the images that embody that religious discussion. Baptismal fonts have been recognized as part of the stylistic production of the Romanesque period, and their iconography has been generally explored as moral and didactic. Here, the message of these fonts is set within a very specific history of medieval Catholic sacramental theology, connecting erudite thinkers and lay users through their decoration and use.

This important addition to the literature is the first overall study of the architecture of Norman England since Sir Alfred Clapham's English Romanesque Architecture after the Conquest (1934). Eric Fernie, a recognized authority on the subject, begins with an overview of the architecture ofthe period, paying special attention to the importance of the architectural evidence for an understanding of the Norman Conquest. The second part, the core of the book, is an examination of the buildings defined by their function, as castles, halls, and chamber blocks, cathedrals, abbeys, andcollegiate churches, monastic buildings, parish churches, and palace chapels. The third part is a reference guide to the elements which make up the buildings, such as apses, passages, vaults, galleries, and decorative features, and the fourth offers an account of the processes by which they wereplanned and constructed. This book contains powerful new ideas that will affect the way in which we look at and analyze these buildings.

The diversity of sculpture preserved at the Herefordshire School has fascinated art historians for many years. Although much of the sculpture has been published and discussed in academic journals, there has been no comprehensive work on the subject - until now. Thurlby focuses attention on the sculpture form the school in its building context, whilst also seeking parallels from other buildings and in other media. This book will appeal to both the specialist and non-specialist due to its style and wide ranging discussion. Thurlby draws in comparisons from Britain and abroad, discusses the inspiration for many of the pieces, the patrons and the motives for their patronage, the training and role of craftsmen, and so on. Over 240 illustrations complement the text.