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Pioneering investigation of the popular "double tomb" effigies in the Middle Ages.
2022 Historians of British Art Book Award for Exemplary Scholarship on the Period before 1600
2021 International Center of Medieval Art Annual Book Prize
Medieval tombs often depict husband and wife lying side-by-side, and hand in hand, immortalised in elegantly carved stone: what Philip Larkin's poem An Arundel Tomb later described as their "stone fidelity".
This first full account of the "double tomb" places its rich tradition into dialogue with powerful discourses of gender, marriage, politics and emotion during the Middle Ages. As well as offering new interpretations of some of the most famous medieval tombs, such as those found in Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral, it draws attention to a host of lesser-known memorials from throughout Europe, providing an innovative vantage point from which to reconsider the material culture of medieval marriage. Setting these twin effigies alongside wedding rings and dresses as the agents of matrimonial ritual and embodied symbolism, the author presents the "double tomb" as far more than mere romantic sentiment. Rather, it reveals the careful artifice beneath their seductive emotional surfaces: the artistic, religious, political and legal agendas underlying the medieval rhetoric of married love.
Published with the generous financial assistance of the Henry Moore Foundation.
2022 Historians of British Art Book Award for Exemplary Scholarship on the Period before 1600
2021 International Center of Medieval Art Annual Book Prize
Medieval tombs often depict husband and wife lying side-by-side, and hand in hand, immortalised in elegantly carved stone: what Philip Larkin's poem An Arundel Tomb later described as their "stone fidelity".
This first full account of the "double tomb" places its rich tradition into dialogue with powerful discourses of gender, marriage, politics and emotion during the Middle Ages. As well as offering new interpretations of some of the most famous medieval tombs, such as those found in Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral, it draws attention to a host of lesser-known memorials from throughout Europe, providing an innovative vantage point from which to reconsider the material culture of medieval marriage. Setting these twin effigies alongside wedding rings and dresses as the agents of matrimonial ritual and embodied symbolism, the author presents the "double tomb" as far more than mere romantic sentiment. Rather, it reveals the careful artifice beneath their seductive emotional surfaces: the artistic, religious, political and legal agendas underlying the medieval rhetoric of married love.
Published with the generous financial assistance of the Henry Moore Foundation.
Price: $39.95
Pages: 354
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: Boydell Press
Publication Date:
14 June 2022
Trim Size: 9.45 X 6.69 in
ISBN: 9781783276943
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
ART / Subjects & Themes / Religious, Religious and ceremonial art, ART / European, HISTORY / Europe / Medieval, History of art, European history
What shines through most brilliantly throughout the book is Barker's thoughtful incorporation of gender and emotion. This monograph is well researched, gripping, and enlightening. The writing style is fluid and the subject matter is nothing less than captivating.
[Richly] satisfying [...] Handsomely produced [...] Overall, it is a remarkable achievement, itself a successful marriage of different approaches which are brought together with clarity and perception.
This is a fascinating book, exhaustively researched and clearly argued. ... Stone Fidelity is relevant to art history, social history, religious studies, and gender studies, to name a few. ... and is an excellent example of scholarship to be held up for emulation.
[This] attractively-produced and well-illustrated volume is thoroughly researched.
[A] magnificent and original study.
— Christopher Howse
[This book] leads the way in the current movement urging the reappraisal of pre-Reformation monuments by what is regarded as a holistic art-historical contextualisation. . . . It is certainly essential reading for all interested in medieval church monuments.
[Richly] satisfying [...] Handsomely produced [...] Overall, it is a remarkable achievement, itself a successful marriage of different approaches which are brought together with clarity and perception.
This is a fascinating book, exhaustively researched and clearly argued. ... Stone Fidelity is relevant to art history, social history, religious studies, and gender studies, to name a few. ... and is an excellent example of scholarship to be held up for emulation.
[This] attractively-produced and well-illustrated volume is thoroughly researched.
[A] magnificent and original study.
— Christopher Howse
[This book] leads the way in the current movement urging the reappraisal of pre-Reformation monuments by what is regarded as a holistic art-historical contextualisation. . . . It is certainly essential reading for all interested in medieval church monuments.
Introduction
The Double Tomb: Marriage, Symbol and Society
Love's Rhetorical Power: The Royal Tomb
Gender, Agency and the Much-Married Woman
Holding Hands: Gesture, Sign, Sacrament
Epilogue
Gazetteer of Hand-Joining Monuments
Bibliography
The Double Tomb: Marriage, Symbol and Society
Love's Rhetorical Power: The Royal Tomb
Gender, Agency and the Much-Married Woman
Holding Hands: Gesture, Sign, Sacrament
Epilogue
Gazetteer of Hand-Joining Monuments
Bibliography