The Gothic Screen: Space, Sculpture, and Community in the Cathedrals of France and Germany, ca.1200–1400

Jacqueline E. Jung

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139149358

The Gothic Screen

Space, Sculpture, and Community in the Cathedrals of France and Germany, ca.1200–1400

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At the heart of Gothic cathedrals, the threshold between nave and sanctuary was marked by the choir screen, a partitioning structure of special complexity, grandeur, and beauty. At once a canopy for altars, a stage for performance, a pedestal for crucifixes and reliquaries, and a ground for spectacular arrays of narrative and iconic sculptures, the choir screen profoundly shaped the spaces of liturgy and social interaction for the diverse communities, both clerical and lay, who shared the church interior. For the first time, this book draws together the most important examples - some fully extant, others known through fragments and graphic sources - from thirteenth- and fourteenth-century France and Germany. Through analyses of both their architectural and sculptural components, Jacqueline E. Jung reveals how these furnishings, far from being barricades or hindrances, were vital vehicles of communication and shapers of a community centered on Christian rituals and stories.

Co-Winner, 2017 John Nicholas Brown Prize, The Medieval Academy of America

Winner of the 2013 PROSE Award for Art History and Criticism

"Recommended."
Choice

"This book has been long awaited and it does not disappoint in the breadth and richness of its exposition … [U]ndoubtedly it will become a standard reference for studies of both the built environment and iconography of the Middle Ages."
The Medieval Review

"The Gothic Screen makes stimulating reading for students and scholars, pointing the way for further studies of screens of all kinds throughout medieval Europe. Never again could we wish away the Gothic screen, nor would we want to."
Tom Nickson, The Medieval Journal

"… one can only be grateful for Jung's insights and keen observations. She has put the discussion of choir screens where it really belongs: within the vast realm of lay religiosity."
Dorothy Gillerman, Speculum

"At the turn of this century, Jacqueline Jung published an influential article on choir screens in Gothic great churches. She has been regarded as the leading Anglo-American specialist on these furnishings ever since, a status maintained through publication of subsequent essays. Now, at last, her monograph on the topic has arrived in the form of an authoritative statement of the role of screens as space-co-ordinating, performative, psychology-conditioning objects."
Julian Luxford, The Burlington Magazine

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The Gothic Screen

Space, Sculpture, and Community in the Cathedrals of France and Germany, ca.1200–1400

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Contents

The Gothic Screen - Half title page
pp i-ii

The Gothic Screen - Title page
pp iii-iii

Copyright page
pp iv-iv

Dedication
pp v-vi

Contents
pp vii-viii

Illustrations
pp ix-xiv

Acknowledgments
pp xv-xx

Introduction
pp 1-8

Part I - The Screen as Structure
pp 9-104

one - The Choir Screen as Partition
pp 11-44

two - TheChoir Screen as Bridge
pp 45-70

Three - The Choir Screen as Frame
pp 71-104

Part II - Sculpture on the Screen
pp 105-208

four - Women,Men, and the Social Order
pp 107-146

FIVE - Jews,Christians, and the Question of the Individual
pp 147-170

Six - Nobles,Peasants, and the Vernacular Mode
pp 171-198

Epilogue
pp 199-208

Notes
pp 209-252

Bibliography
pp 253-272

Index
pp 273-282

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The Gothic Screen

Space, Sculpture, and Community in the Cathedrals of France and Germany, ca.1200–1400

Book description

Awards

Reviews

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Contents

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Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information