Imaging the Early Medieval Bible (Penn State Series in the History of the Book)

In Imaging the Early Medieval Bible, five outstanding medievalists present a compelling revisionist interpretation of the beginnings of biblical illustration. While scholars have long argued that the subjects and format of such illustrations were largely determined by archetypes of the earliest years of Christian artistic culture, the contributors to this volume show how decorated Bibles were shaped instead by ad hoc artistic decisions that resulted in a variety of creative approaches. Critically engaging with Kurt Weitzmann’s method of “picture criticism” and his traditional focus on the origins of illustration methods, the contributors attend to particular cultural contexts to examine a growing and experimental world of biblical imagery. From analyses of Jewish motifs in Christian art, the commissions of the Insular and Carolingian northern Bibles, and the Bible of 960 in León to a reconsideration of Roman manuscript art and the relationship between biblical manuscript illumination and monumental painting, the essays in this volume present a wide range of circumstances and innovations that reframe our understanding of the artists’ choices. Meticulously researched and richly illustrated with photos of rare illuminated manuscripts, Imaging the Early Medieval Bible is an indispensable contribution to the study of medieval art.