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English Gothic Misericord Carvings: History from the Bottom Up by Betsy Chunko-Dominguez is the first book to move beyond textual dependence and traditional iconographic analysis when examining misericords. It likewise builds the most thorough discussion to date of the relationship between the misericord’s several potential audiences – including patron, craftsman, occupant of the seat, and modern viewer.
Beyond the bounds of misericord studies, there are implications here for study of the relationship between center and margin in late medieval art; and, indeed, what constitutes ‘center’ and ‘margin’ as conceptual realms. Ultimately, this book attempts both to re-integrate the study of misericords into the study of Gothic art in general, and to re-center them in relation to our understanding of late medieval culture.
Beyond the bounds of misericord studies, there are implications here for study of the relationship between center and margin in late medieval art; and, indeed, what constitutes ‘center’ and ‘margin’ as conceptual realms. Ultimately, this book attempts both to re-integrate the study of misericords into the study of Gothic art in general, and to re-center them in relation to our understanding of late medieval culture.
Price: $148.00
Pages: 192
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Art and Material Culture in Medieval and Renaissance Europe
Publication Date:
23 March 2017
ISBN: 9789004341180
Format: Hardcover
"The fabulous panoply of scenes carved into the misericords that once supported the bottoms of medieval monks and canons across England is ripe for an important new treatment, and in Betsy Chunko-Dominguez it has found a suitably erudite and appreciative investigator.[...] a succinct,
pithy and broad survey of the medieval interpretive field and a brilliant application of visual analysis, an important historicisation of and corrective to a somewhat neglected subject."
Gabriel Byng, Clare Hall, Cambridge, in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 70 (2019), 152-153.
''Betsy Chunko-Dominguez’s volume makes a significant contribution to the study of specifically English misericord iconography, engaging with recent work in ways that build upon current thinking and, appropriately, offer a stimulating challenge to the views of these authors. Her work engages more fully with critical theory than that of the aforementioned authors, and does so in a way that is purposeful, and that illuminates her subject while avoiding the excesses that can all too often cloud the overly theoretical. Indeed, the writing has a clarity that may be easily understood by the keen nonspecialist [...] The field of misericord studies is still underexplored, and this considered—and, crucially, excellently illustrated—volume makes a valuable contribution to our approaches to this fascinating and often perplexing body of carvings and, more broadly, to the complex material articulations of life and belief in the late Middle Ages''.
Paul Hardwick, in Speculum 94/3 (2019), 819-821.
Gabriel Byng, Clare Hall, Cambridge, in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 70 (2019), 152-153.
''Betsy Chunko-Dominguez’s volume makes a significant contribution to the study of specifically English misericord iconography, engaging with recent work in ways that build upon current thinking and, appropriately, offer a stimulating challenge to the views of these authors. Her work engages more fully with critical theory than that of the aforementioned authors, and does so in a way that is purposeful, and that illuminates her subject while avoiding the excesses that can all too often cloud the overly theoretical. Indeed, the writing has a clarity that may be easily understood by the keen nonspecialist [...] The field of misericord studies is still underexplored, and this considered—and, crucially, excellently illustrated—volume makes a valuable contribution to our approaches to this fascinating and often perplexing body of carvings and, more broadly, to the complex material articulations of life and belief in the late Middle Ages''.
Paul Hardwick, in Speculum 94/3 (2019), 819-821.
Betsy Chunko-Dominguez, Ph.D. (2012), University of Virginia, is Professor of Art History at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her research focuses on forms of late medieval marginalia.