This study explores the role of early medieval religious art in its historical context, focusing on England from the reign of Alfred the Great to the aftermath of the Norman conquest. Tenth and eleventh century society expressed itself extensively through visual means, and the surviving material provides a rich body of evidence for the religious culture of the time. Combining visual and documentary evidence, 'The Role of Art in the Late Anglo-Saxon Church' sheds new light on a wide range of magnificent art works and their functions, and offers fresh perspectives on the ecclesiastical history and beliefs of late Anglo Saxon England, with important implications for the study of early medieval civilization in general.
Author(s): Richard Gameson
Series: Oxford Historical Monographs
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Year: 1995
Language: English
Pages: XLVI+312
City: Oxford
List of Illustrations ix
Abbreviations xii
Introduction 1
1. The Illustration of Texts 6
Inherited Illustrations 9
The Physical Relationship of Text and Image 19
Frontispieces 20
Interspersed Imagery 30
Integrated Imagery 35
Modes of Illustration 41
Narrative Illustration 43
Complementary Illustration 45
Literal Illustration 48
The Effect of Illustration 53
2. Inscriptions 70
Written Content 76
The Appearance of Inscriptions 94
3. Visual Language: Setting the Scene 105
Introduction 105
Physical Form 107
4. Repetitions of Motif and Image and their Possible Implications 118
Repetition of Decorative Motif and the Co-ordinated Environment 118
Repetition of Imagery and Re-affirmation of Faith 126
5. Pictorial Narrative 135
6. Composition 150
Introduction 150
The Frame and Its Contents 152
Overlapping 160
Scale 166
Setting 176
Landscape 176
Architecture 180
Symbolic 185
Diagrammatic 187
7. Decoration 192
The Frame 192
Form 192
Function 208
Decorated Initials 213
Organization 216
Imagery 226
8. Broader Perspectives 235
The Reformed Monastic Houses: diversity in uniformity 235
North and South 237
The Monastic Church and the Secular Church 241
The Monasteries and the Secular World 248
Man and the Divine 260
Bibliography 266
Index of Art Objects 295
Index of Manuscripts 301
Index of People and Places 307
