124 pages, paperback, 300 x 240 mm, 170 illustrations
PRICE: £25.00
ISBN: 978 0 954901 48 6
Stained glass was unknown in antiquity. Invented around AD 1000, it soon achieved a dominant position in the arts of the Middle Ages, not only in churches but also in secular contexts. Its innovation can be compared with that of television - and like television it involves passing light through a transparent layer, using the light of sun instead of light generated by electricity, so that in a real sense the stained glass image is in constant motion, as the light passing through it changes.
Stained glass was linked to all the graphic arts and the most skilled artisans made the drawings for the glassmaker. Even single heads can be masterpieces of draughtsmanship. This book presents a brilliant selection of stained glass now detached from its original location, featuring work related to some of the finest masters of the late Middle Ages, such as the Housebook Master or Domenico Ghirlandaio. All works are fully documented and their provenance traced where possible in an illustrated appendix.
This is the catalogue to an outstanding collection of Medieval art from a private collection. Ranging from paintings and sculpture to stained glass, manuscripts and caskets, many of the objects presented here are of absolute rarity, some are previously unpublished and - until recently - unknown. More
Medieval art has been collected for at least 200 years, yet there is a perception that if it is not locked away in a monastery it has found its home in a museum long ago. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is the richness and variety of what still lies unclaimed by history that makes this material so interesting. More
These works of museum quality, from an anonymous collection (one of the most important currently in private hands), were exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2005. Many of the objects in the catalogue will be well known to those familiar with the specialist literature, even if they were unaware of their whereabouts. More
This catalogue accompanies an exhibition at the Groeninge Museum, Bruges, which celebrates one of the greatest European artists of the late fourteenth century, André Beauneveu, apparently born in Valenciennes c. 1335. The full scope of his talent was exploited by the celebrated royal patron Jean de Berry, for whom he produced manuscript illuminations, made designs for stained glass and oversaw the construction of his château at Mehun-sur-Yevre. However, it is primarily his very great skill in the handling of stone which gives Beauneveu such particular significance in the history of late medieval art. More