medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> From: George FERZOCO <[log in to unmask]>
> I don't have the reference to hand, Jon, but Bernard of Clairvaux referred
to the monastery as a heavenly Jerusalem.
try:
Léon Pressouyre, "St. Bernard to St. Francis: Monastic Ideals and
Iconographic Programs in the Cloister," Gesta, 12, No. 1/2. (1973), pp.
71-92.
JSTOR Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0016-920X%281973%2912%3A1%2F2%3C71%3ASBTSFM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K
Paul Meyvaert, "The Medieval Monastic Claustrum," (in The Cloister Symposium,
1972)
Gesta, 12, No. 1/2. (1973), pp. 53-59.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0016-920X%281973%2912%3A1%2F2%3C53%3ATMMC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-F
The Vita Apostolica and Romanesque Sculpture: Some Preliminary Observations
Ilene H. Forsyth
Gesta, Vol. 25, No. 1, Essays in Honor of Whitney Snow Stoddard. (1986), pp.
75-82.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0016-920X%281986%2925%3A1%3C75%3ATVAARS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O
Abstract: This paper explores the possibility of a relationship between
Romanesque sculpture and the contemporary paradigm for spiritual life known as
the vita apostolica. The emphatic directives of this concept were that members
of religious communities hold all property in common and function together
"with one heart and one soul," as did the apostles of Christ. These directives
were given particular impetus during the Gregorian Reform when nostalgia for
the early church was a guiding theme. The subsequent phenomenon, whereby monks
and canons of the late 11th and 12th centuries believed they could imitate or
model themselves on Christ's apostles in their own communal life, even to the
extent that they might metaphorically experience the places, people and events
of the apostolic age (e.g. thereby substituting the spiritual journey of their
professional mission for actual travel to pilgrimage sites), is studied here
with regard to its possible reflection in architectural sculpture. The
discussion focuses on themes familiar in Romanesque sculpture, such as those
which present the apostles in distinctive groups and those which illustrate
the apostles intimately interacting with Christ, including the Incredulity of
Thomas, the Visitatio Sepulchri, the Way to Emmaus, the Last Supper and the
Washing of the Feet. Examples of these subjects are analyzed to show visual
evidences of artistic strategems, both formal and iconographic, that serve to
induce an observer to identify with his apostolic forebears and participate in
a mimetic synergy transcending time. It is argued that qualities of the art
itself, which gave special immediacy to the events depicted and allowed
enhanced, empathetic experience of the apostolic age, mediated emulation and
were in turn enriched by it.
c
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|