Discusses the techniques, uses, and aesthetics of medieval drawings; and reproduces work from more than fifty manuscripts produced between the ninth and early fourteenth century.

Explore the lives of powerful kings and queens, rebellious peasants, fierce warriors, and pious religious leaders of the Middle Ages. Artwork from illuminated manuscripts helps bring to life fascinating portraits of such famous medieval men, women, and children as Ghengis Khan, Isabella I, Muhammad, Marco Polo, and Joan of Arc.

Focuses on one of the most attractive features of late medieval manuscript illumination: the portrait of the book owner at prayer within the pages of her prayer-book.

The intensely expressive art of the Middle Ages was created to awe, educate and connect the viewer to heaven. Its power reverberates to this day, even among the secular. But experiencing the full meaning and purpose of medieval art requires an understanding of its narrative content. This volume introduces the subjects and stories most frequently depicted in medieval art, many of them drawn from the Bible and other religious literature. Included among the thirty-eight representative works are brilliant altarpieces, stained-glass windows, intricate tapestries, carved wood sculptures, delicate ivories, and captivating manuscript illuminations, all drawn from the holdings of the Metropolitan Museum, one of the world's most comprehensive collections of medieval art. Iconic masterworks such as the Merode Altarpiece, the Unicorn Tapestries, and the Belles Heures of the duc de Berry are featured along with less familiar work. Descriptions of the individual pieces highlight the context in which they were made, conveying their visual and technical nuances as well as their broader symbolic meaning. With its accessible informative discussions and superb full-color illustrations, How to Read Medieval Art explores the iconographic themes of the period, making them clearly recognizable and opening vistas onto history and literature, faith and devotion.

What were the medieval stylistic, aesthetic, and literary conventions that Chancer drew upon and knew that his audience would understand? In this rich study Mr. Robertson has included 118 illustrations-of medieval sculpture, cathedral interiors, illuminated manuscripts, paintings, ornamental devices and decorations-to show how these conventions affected the visual arts of Chaucer's time. Special attention is directed to fundamental differences between medieval and modern attitudes toward poetry, and to the significance of these differences for an approach to medieval art. By placing Chaucer fully in his own time, Mr. Robertson establishes new perspectives for understanding Chaucer’s poetry. His book is like a rich tapestry weaving together many threads. Originally published in 1962. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The author is Helen Gould Sheppard Professor of Art History at New York University , Institute of Fine Arts, and a leading authority on English medieval manuscript illumination. This volume bring together twenty-six of Professor Sandler's studies, focusing on illustrated manuscripts produced in England in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, particularly on the illuminated psalters. The marginal illustrations in these psalters are a topic of particular interest, and there are a number of iconographic studies derived from this material. A separate section deals with the illustrated encyclopedias of the period, particularly the Omne bonum.