Description
Book SynopsisUsing the great south-Italian monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno, one of the best preserved monasteries of the earliest Middle Ages, as a case-study and heuristic paradigm, John Mitchell has engaged in a wide-ranging examination of the ways in which visual culture was developed and deployed by ambitious states and institutions in early medieval Europe.
The present volume includes studies on the cultural dynamics of Italy and its contribution to the visual complexion of Europe in the period, as well as essays on many aspects of the artistic culture of San Vincenzo, including a series of papers on the display of script in the physical fabric of the monastery and the prominent role it played in its self-image.
Table of ContentsPreface
The Arts in Early Medieval Italy
Artistic Strategies and Cultural Patronage in Lombard Italy
Power of Patronage and Iconography of Quality
The Painted Decoration of San Salvatore in Brescia in Context
St. Johann at Mustair: The Painted Decoration in Context
The Wall-Paintings in Santa Maria foris Portas at Castelseprio and the Tower at Torba. Reflections and Reappraisal
Farfa Revisited: The Early Medieval Monastic Church
San Vincenzo al Volturno
Literacy Displayed: The Use of Inscriptions at the Monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno in the Early Ninth century
The Crypt Reappraised
Spatial Hierarchy and the Uses of Ornament in and Early Medieval Monastery
A Word on Ornament
Art of Many Colours: The Dadoes of San Vincenzo and Issues of Marbling in the Post-Roman World
The Early Medieval Monastery as Site of Commemoration and Place of Oblivion
Cult, Relics and Privileged Burial at San Vincenzo al Volturno in the Age of Charlemagne: The Discovery of the Tomb of Abbot Talaricus (817 - 8th October 823)
Script about the Cross: The Tombstones of San Vincenzo al Volturno
The Workshops of San Vincenzo al Volturno: Phases of Production and Dynamics of a Ninth-Century Monastery
A Carved Ivory Head from San Vincenzo al Volturno
An Early Medieval Enamel
A Set of Sword Belt Mounts
The San Vincenzo Community in Capua
Giudizio sul Mille: Rome, Montecassino, San Vincenzo al Volturno and the Beginnings of the Romanesque
Index
