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Description
The touchstones of Gothic monumental art in France - the abbey church of Saint-Denis and the cathedrals of Chartres, Reims, and Bourges - form the core of this collection dedicated to the memory of Anne Prache. The essays reflect the impact of Prache’s career, both as a scholar of wide-ranging interests and as a builder of bridges between the French and American academic communities. Thus the authors include scholars in France and the United States, both academics and museum professionals, while the thematic matrix of the book, divided into architecture, stained glass, and sculpture, reflects the multiple media explored by Prache during her long career.
The essays employ a varied range of methodologies to explore Gothic monuments. The chapters in the architectural section include an intensive archeological analysis of the foundations of Reims Cathedral, the close reading of a late medieval literary text for a symbolic understanding of Paris, and essays that explore the medieval use of practical geometry in designing entire buildings and their components. Saint-Denis, Reims, and Chartres, all monuments studied by Prache, are discussed in the next part, on stained glass. These chapters demonstrate how old problems can be clarified by new evidence, whether from the accessibility of previously unknown archival information, for Reims, or through revelations that arise from restoration, at Chartres. These essays also include a study showing the complexity of making attributions for the storied glass of Saint-Denis. The final set of essays likewise takes different approaches to sculpture, whether constructing links to the liturgy at Reims, or discussing the meaning of a sculptural ensemble studied by Prache early in her career, the cloister of Notre-Dame-en-Vaux in Châlons-en-Champagne, or scrupulously examining the façade sculpture at Bourges Cathedral for insights into the design process. As a whole, the volume provides a window onto key directions in the study of medieval monuments in the early twenty-first century and paint a picture of the vibrant scholarship that is Prache's legacy.
ISBN
9781472440556
Publication Date
2015
Publisher
Ashgate
Keywords
gothic monumental art, medieval cathedrals, gothic monuments, Kathleen Nolan
Disciplines
Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture
Recommended Citation
Nolan, Kathleen, "Arts of the Medieval Cathedrals: Studies on Architecture, Stained Glass, and Sculpture in Honor of Anne Prache" (2015). Books by Hollins Faculty and Staff. 78.
https://digitalcommons.hollins.edu/facbooks/78
Comments
Kathleen Nolan served as editor for this book, with Dany Sandron. The PDF available for download is Chapter 12, "Filiae Hierusalem: Female Statue Columns from Notre-Dame-en-Vaux," written by Kathleen Nolan and Susan Leibacher Ward.