Volume 14 in the series Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages, this publication provides a comprehensive view of the first generation of monumental crucifixes to appear in medieval Europe, which balances examinations of the history, theology, styles, and material properties of these evocative objects.
Few medieval images are as iconic, or as challenging, as the life-sized sculptural crucifixes that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire at the end of the tenth century. Striking at the fundamental mysteries of Christianity — the idea of a God made flesh, who died on the Cross and was resurrected after three days — these objects were made to attract attention and inspire veneration, and they exist in uneasy tension with medieval anxieties about idolatry and the cult of images. This volume presents new research on the Boston Crucifix, the earliest medieval crucifix in North America and one of the most significant examples of the genre, in dialogue with new directions in this field as a whole. Essays on the history, theology, style, condition, and provenance of early wood crucifixes are presented here together for the first time in a format that is intended as a major scholarly resource, but will also prove accessible to students and non-specialists who are curious about the origins of monumental crucifixes in the High Middle Ages.
Shirin Fozi (PhD Harvard University) is assistant professor of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. Gerhard Lutz (PhD Technische Universität, Berlin) is associate director and curator at the Dommuseum Hildesheim. The editors have invited essays from internationally recognized authors who are active on both sides of the Atlantic, taking special care to include the perspectives of conservators, curators, and other scholars of medieval art.
For more information, please visit Brepols Publisher’s website.
Medieval Art Research 