English Gothic Choir Stalls 1200 1400

Church Woodwork in the British Isles, 1100-1535: An Annotated Bibliography is a thoroughly researched bibliographic guide to monographic, serial, archival, and graphical resources that deal with all aspects of late Romanesque, Gothic, and early Renaissance ecclesiastical woodwork in churches throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Dealing with both the decorative and structural elements of wooden church furnishings fittings, this authoritative reference tool includes more than 900 annotated citations for works published from the mid-19th century to the present. The extensive and informative annotations provide a synopsis of each cited resource. Resources are categorized in separate chapters by their specific location in the church, their decorative features, their structural function, or other pertinent criteria. This annotated bibliography represents the most comprehensive reference tool for material that deals with church woodwork that has yet been published.

Misericordia International was founded by Elaine C. Block as an association dedicated to the study of choir stalls and their relation to other artistic manifestations during the Middle Ages, and the dissemination of research. From its beginnings, Misericordia International has promoted a bi-annual international conference as a place of scientific exchange among members of the research community interested in this topic from a multidisciplinary perspective. The most recent conference was held from 23 to 26 June 2016 at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University in Greifswald, Germany. The theme of the conference was the workshop context of medieval choir stalls in its broadest sense. Where the iconography of choir stalls has enjoyed a lot of attention from researchers, the process and circumstances of the making of these complex objects have often been rather neglected. Choir stalls were not produced by an individual artist, but were created by a group of craftsmen. This factor raises all kinds of questions. The conference in Greifswald covered an obvious need for research and therefore included much hitherto unknown research material and additional first results based on initial research. In addition to questions about substantive and economic mechanisms of the production of choir stalls, the conference dealt with basic knowledge of craftsmanship. This publication presents the papers held at the conference and is divided into five thematic parts, namely Workshop practices; Early modern choir stalls – Traditions or restart?; Stalls of stone – A forgotten furniture; Travelling craftsmen; and Group of works.

The early 16th-century baptismal font canopy of the church of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, is one of only three such structures to survive anywhere in the British Isles. This study, inspired by the recent rediscovery of four attributable panels at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, offers a trans-temporal account of the canopy’s initial creation and subsequent use, mutilation, and modification. Written by a team of scholars in art/architectural history, art conservation, heritage documentation, literary studies, and museum curation, it explores the installation’s multiple artistic, ritual, and cultural contexts, from late medieval and early modern Europe to modern-day North America. Contributors are Benjamin Baaske, Sarah Blick, Kate Duffy, Brent R. Fortenberry, Amy Gillette, Jack Hinton, Lesley Milner, Peggy Olley, Ellen K. Rentz, Behrooz Salimnejad, Zachary Stewart, Achim Timmermann, Charles Tracy, Kim Woods, and Lucy Wrapson.

The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts covers thousands of years of decorative arts production throughout western and non-western culture. With over 1,000 entries, as well as hundreds drawn from the 34-volume Dictionary of Art, this topical collection is a valuable resource for those interested in the history, practice, and mechanics of the decorative arts. Accompanied by almost 100 color and more than 500 black and white illustrations, the 1,290 pages of this title include hundreds of entries on artists and craftsmen, the qualities and historic uses of materials, as well as concise definitions on art forms and style. Explore the works of Alvar Aalto, Charles and Ray Eames, and the Wiener Wekstatte, or delve into the history of Navajo blankets and wing chairs in thousands of entries on artists, craftsmen, designers, workshops, and decorative art forms.

This volume offers unparalleled coverage of all aspects of art and architecture from medieval Western Europe, from the 6th century to the early 16th century. Drawing upon the expansive scholarship in the celebrated 'Grove Dictionary of Art' and adding hundreds of new entries, it offers students, researchers and the general public a reliable, up-to-date, and convenient resource covering this field of major importance in the development of Western history and international art and architecture.

English Gothic Misericord Carvings: History from the Bottom Up by Betsy Chunko-Dominguez explores misericords from the perspective of their several potential viewers. It is the first book to move beyond textual dependence and traditional iconographic analysis when examining this subject.

Misericord carvings present a fascinating corpus of medieval art which, in turn, complements our knowledge of life and belief in the late middle ages. Subjects range from the sacred to the profane and from the fantastic to the everyday, seemingly giving equal weight to the scatological and the spiritual alike. Focusing specifically on England - though with cognisance of broader European contexts - this volume offers an analysis of misericords in relation to other cultural artefacts of the period. Through a series of themed "case studies", the book places misericords firmly within the doctrinal and devotional milieu in which they were created and sited, arguing that even the apparently coarse images to be found beneath choir stalls are intimately linked to the devotional life of the medieval English Church. The analysis is complemented by a gazetteer of the most notable instances. Dr Paul Hardwick is Professor in English, Leeds Trinity University College.