Palace of the Mind. The Cloister of Silos and Spanish Sculpture of the Twelfth Century

Art History (Outside a Series)(STAH) E. Valdez del Alamo Palace of the Mind. The Cloister of Silos and Spanish Sculpture of the Twelfth Century XX+532 p., 300 b/w ill. + 16 colour ill., 210 x 280 mm, 2012 ISBN: 978-2-503-51711-7 Languages: English Hardback The publication is available. Retail price: EUR 180,00 The extraordinary cloister of Santo Domingo de Silos is central to our understanding of medieval sculpture, and of Spain's place in its development. Elizabeth Valdez del Álamo offers an innovative reading of the monastery's medieval sculpture and the first complete study in English. Her carefully documented work revises many traditional theories about the site built during the late eleventh and twelfth centuries. Rather than expressing resistance to religious reform, as commonly held for the renowned Emmaus and Thomas reliefs of the first campaign, they embrace the newly imposed Roman rite. The sirens, dragons, lions, and birds of the capitals are shown to have significance beyond mere decoration. The inventive images of the second campaign, an Annunciation-Coronation and a Trinity set into the Tree of Jesse, derive specifically from monastic devotion, colored by local concerns such as the Reconquest. Review "This large, attractive, and comprehensive book on the cloister of Santo Domingo de Silos, among the most familiar and most compelling of the major Romanesque sites in northern Spain, represents a significant contribution to the study of medieval art and architecture. The magnificent illustrations and rich bibliography alone would make the book an essential resource for the stury of European visual culture from the decades around 1100, an astonishing period that witnessed a veritable explosion in architectural sculpture." (Shirin Fozi, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Volume 72 (4), Dec. 2013, p. 584) "Palace of the Mind offers much to the student of the Spanish Romanesque: abundant, informative photographs (many taken by the author); precise, descriptive formal analysis; and thoughtful discussion of the linkages between cloister iconography and monastic belief and practice. It provides a sound foundation for continued study of this important Iberian monument and a substantial contribution to the scholarship on Romanesque art in Spain." (Pamela A. Patton, in: CAA Reviews, November 2013) "(.) it should be read by anyone with an interest in Romanesque sculpture or Spain's religious history." (Nicholas Watson, in: Medieval Archaeology, Vol. 57, December 2013, p. 359) "Festzuhalten ist, dass "Palace of the Mind" eine respektable Zusammenfassung des aktuellen Forschungsstands liefert. Vor allem die umfassende kritische Auseinandersetzung mit liturgischen Texten, die, wie Valdez del Álamo deutlich herausstellen konnte, als Inspirationsquelle für die Bauskulptur des Klosters dienten, lassen das Buch zu einem Standardwerk für alle zukünftigen Betrachtungen des Klosters werden." (Janet Kempf, in: Sehepunkte 14 (2014), Nr. 4, 15.04.2014) Language : English text Size: 210 X280 mm.

Edizione: edition originale.