This important and beautiful book accompanies the opening of the Victoria and Albert Museum's spectacular new Medieval and Renaissance galleries. Among the textiles, paintings, sculpture, glass, metalwork, prints, manuscripts, furniture, ceramics and jewelry featured here are such renowned treasures as the Devonshire tapestries, the Leonardo Notebooks, Donatellos Ascension relief, the reliquary casket of St. Thomas Becket, and many more astonishing works. Organized thematically, the book explores the social contexts responsible for these captivating objects, both commonplace and precious, recovering the attitudes of makers and owners of the time toward artistic practice. Rather than adopting the traditional sharp distinction between the Medieval and Renaissance, the authors explore aspects of the whole of this long period in European design and manufacture: an approach that emphasizes the continuities and gradual developments that were often as significant as sudden upheaval. A general historical introduction to the social and political background is followed by chapters that explore concepts of art, workshops, and sales, the classical past, ornament, religious art, health and body, and the ways in which objects themselves express the attitudes of their owners.

One of the most important collections of medieval sculpture and metalwork ever assembled, available to the public for the first time This is the definitive catalogue of one of the most important collections of medieval art that exists in private hands, not previously accessible to the public. Comprised of outstanding European sculptures of the medieval period, as well as some Late Antique and Byzantine pieces and related works of the post-medieval era, this stunning volume includes detailed descriptions of many items rarely or never before seen in print. The featured objects are made from wood, stone (including alabaster and marble), terra- cotta, and metal— mostly consisting of crucifix figures (corpora) and other functional metalware, such as aquamanilia (water vessels for the washing of hands) and candlesticks—all of which are beautifully showcased by specially commissioned photography.

This book features 107 of the finest examples of illuminated pages from medieval and Renaissance Books of Hours. Roger Wieck's comprehensive text introduces the Book of Hours -- a "bestseller" for three hundred years -- to the general reader, discussing its iconography, the artists who illuminated this genre, and its role as a religious text in the lives of its owners. As a collection of both stirring words and inspiring images, the Book of Hours thus comprised a series of "painted prayers".

From delicate jewelry to the most elaborate goblet, this book brings together gems of the applied arts from the Middle Ages right through to the Renaissance. The 216 hand-colored copperplate engravings offer the contemporary reader both a record and a sourcebook of all that can be achieved by the human hand and creative imagination.

One of the most important collections of medieval sculpture and metalwork ever assembled, available to the public for the first time This is the definitive catalogue of one of the most important collections of medieval art that exists in private hands, not previously accessible to the public. Comprised of outstanding European sculptures of the medieval period, as well as some Late Antique and Byzantine pieces and related works of the post-medieval era, this stunning volume includes detailed descriptions of many items rarely or never before seen in print. The featured objects are made from wood, stone (including alabaster and marble), terra- cotta, and metal— mostly consisting of crucifix figures (corpora) and other functional metalware, such as aquamanilia (water vessels for the washing of hands) and candlesticks—all of which are beautifully showcased by specially commissioned photography.

This educational resource packet covers more than 1200 years of medieval art from western Europe and Byzantium, as represented by objects in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among the contents of this resource are: an overview of medieval art and the period; a collection of aspects of medieval life, including knighthood, monasticism, pilgrimage, and pleasures and pastimes; information on materials and techniques medieval artists used; maps; a timeline; a bibliography; and a selection of useful resources, including a list of significant collections of medieval art in the U.S. and Canada and a guide to relevant Web sites. Tote box includes a binder book containing background information, lesson plans, timeline, glossary, bibliography, suggested additional resources, and 35 slides, as well as two posters and a 2 CD-ROMs.

A survey of the Wyvern Collection of Medieval and Early Renaissance art at Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine. Includes exquisite sculptures and manuscripts. Why does medieval art matter today? This beautifully illustrated book will examine this question through the lens of the magnificent objects in the Wyvern Collection of Medieval and Early Renaissance art, accompanying the collection's first exhibition in the United States. Works include exquisite examples of metalwork, stone and wood sculpture, and illuminated manuscripts from across Europe, as well as the Christian community of Ethiopia. Offering new photography and complementary text, this book will be an essential resource for one of the world's most important private collections of medieval art, and a fascinating read for all interested in the Middle Ages and the role of art history in exploring our world.