Customer Reviews

Art of the Middle Ages (World of Art)

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This book is an excellent introduction to Medieval art, covering temple architecture, sculpture, stained glass, reliquaries, illuminated manuscripts, icons and early paintings, tapestries, armor, castles, houses. The only things I can imagine that she might have included are coins and jewelry, but even omitting them this is an unusually complete coverage.

Under each heading, she examines 3-4 good examples of the subject, and in many cases she concludes by listing all/many other notable examples. Of course she can't go into detail on every Gothic church in France, but she goes over the most famous ones, and then provides a good, long list of others.

I happily recommend this to anyone travelling in France, as I was when I read it, because you'll have the opportunity to see many examples of Medieval art. I can also recommend this to students because the author rarely indulges in excessive verbiage, she writes fairly simply and straightforwardly.

Along with this, if you're interested in the Middle Ages, let me recommend two books: Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition (Yale Intellectual History of the West Se) and The Age of Reform, 1250-1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe.

This is a generally helpful handbook written in a style that I would describe as "conversational erudite." I do not recommend Art of the Middle Ages for beginners, as it assumes some prior knowledge. AotMA is probably best suited for readers already equipped with a historical sensibility.

The main problem, however, is that the subject matter is too vast and geographically diverse to be covered in a handbook, at least, this one. The so-called Medieval Era, conventionally understood, runs for over a 1,000 years and stretches from the British Isles east, and across Europe to Asia Minor and North Africa. Over this time period and across duchies, dioceses, kingdoms and empires, Medieval Art and Architecture took on a wide variety of expressions and forms, and these don't appear in Dr. Benton's treatment. Perhaps that is why this book is showing up at discounters and remainder houses in 2010.

The bibliography, however, IS excellent, and readers questing for more specific and synthetic historical treatments will benefit form consulting it and pursuing its titles.