Medieval Studies and Archaeology

C. Edson Armi

Cluny and the Origins of Burgundian Romanesque Sculpture

The Architecture, Sculpture and Narrative of the Avenas Master

Bibliotheca Archaeologica, 58
2019, 124 pp., 116 ill. col., 6 ill. b/n
Hardback, 21,5 x 28 cm
ISBN: 9788891317452
ISSN: 2240-8347
  • Add to cart
  • Add to cart
    •   Institutions

      Bound

      Format: Hardback
      ISBN: 9788891317452

      € 90,00 € 90,00 € 90,00

      eBook

      Format: PDF
      ISBN: 9788891317483

      € 90,00 € 90,00 € 90,00

    •   Individual

      Bound

      Format: Hardback
      ISBN: 9788891317452

      € 40,00 € 40,00 € 40,00

      eBook

      Format: PDF
      ISBN: 9788891317483

      € 32,00 € 32,00 € 32,00

  • Abstract
  • Table of Contents
  • Reviews
  • More about this title
  • Abstract

    The role of individual sculptors in creating the ambulatory capitals in the largest basilica in Christendom at Cluny remains a mystery. The unresolved issue of individual creativity leaves open three important questions about this powerful abbey which controlled hundreds of monasteries throughout Europe in the eleventh century: What was the specific artistic context - the origin, training and career path of the major sculptors who worked at the mother church at the start of construction? What was the relationship, in time and influence, between the focal ambulatory capitals and similar sculptures at numerous local sites? And what role did artists play in determining the form and meaning of Cluny sculptures and related monuments? This book traces the career of a sculptor who worked on the earliest capitals in the abbey church at Cluny. It documents his artistic preferences at previous Burgundian projects, gathering a variety of evidence intended to be on the one hand precise, complex and subtle, and on the other convincingly repetitious. The findings are supported with high-resolution photographs taken at telling angles from high ladders and scaffolding. This version of the creative process at the mother church, in which the Cluniac brothers picked a local talent to carry out one of the most important sculptural commissions in Europe, differs markedly from the standard one based largely on presumed but undocumented artistic priorities of the monks. Prevailing theory assumes the monks had an international perspective when it came to art as they tried to establish at Cluny a new Rome as the centerpiece of their monastic empire.

  • Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Chapter 1
    Avenas
    Altar and Later Comparisons
    Charlieu Tympanum
    Christ
    Nativity
    Annunciation

    Chapter 2
    Mcon
    Christ Welcoming Souls, Last Judgment Tympanum

    Chapter 3
    Anzy-Le-Duc
    Tympanum
    Corinthian Capitals with Figures
    Elder Capital

    Chapter 4
    Perrecy-Les-Forges
    Angel Capital

    Chapter 5
    Vzelay
    Capital of a Figure Playing a Monocord
    Capital of an Angel with a Staff and Horn

    Chapter 6
    Montceaux-Ltoile
    Tympanum and Lintel
    Harpy (?) Capital
    Portal
    Excursus

    Chapter 7
    Cluny Ambulatory Capitals, Avenas Master
    Fourth Tone
    First Tone
    Classicism at Cluny
    Corinthian Capital with Figures

    Chapter 8
    Cluny Ambulatory Capitals
    Second Tone
    Liberal Arts (?)
    Theological Virtues (?)
    Four Winds

    Conclusion

    Bibliography

  • Reviews
  • More about this title
    RMBLF.be - Réseau des médiévistes belges de langue française - Publication – C. Edson Armi, « Cluny and the Origins of Burgundian Romanesque Sculpture.The Architecture, Sculpture and Narrative of the Avenas Master »Publication – C. Edson Armi, « Cluny and the Origins of Burgundian Romanesque Sculpture.The Architecture, Sculpture and Narrative of the Avenas Master » RMBLF.be - Réseau des médiévistes belges de langue française - Publication – C. Edson Armi, « Cluny and the Origins of Burgundian Romanesque Sculpture.The Architecture, Sculpture and Narrative of the Avenas Master »Publication – C. Edson Armi, « Cluny and the Origins of Burgundian Romanesque Sculpture.The Architecture, Sculpture and Narrative of the Avenas Master » RMBLF.be - Réseau des médiévistes belges de langue française - Publication – C. Edson Armi, « Cluny and the Origins of Burgundian Romanesque Sculpture.The Architecture, Sculpture and Narrative of the Avenas Master »Publication – C. Edson Armi, « Cluny and the Origins of Burgundian Romanesque Sculpture.The Architecture, Sculpture and Narrative of the Avenas Master »