Believing and Seeing: The Art of Gothic Cathedrals [Hardcover]

Roland Recht (Author), Mary Whittall (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0226706060 | ISBN-13: 978-0226706061 | Edition: 1

Developments in medieval science that elevated sight above the other senses found religious expression in the Christian emphasis on miracles, relics, and elaborate structures. In his incisive survey of Gothic art and architecture, Roland Recht argues that this preoccupation with vision as a key to religious knowledge profoundly affected a broad range of late medieval works.

In addition to the great cathedrals of France, Recht explores key religious buildings throughout Europe to reveal how their grand designs supported this profusion of images that made visible the signs of scripture. Metalworkers, for example, fashioned intricate monstrances and reliquaries for the presentation of sacred articles, and technical advances in stained glass production allowed for more expressive renderings of holy objects. Sculptors, meanwhile, created increasingly naturalistic works and painters used multihued palettes to enhance their subjects’ lifelike qualities. Reimagining these works as a link between devotional practices in the late Middle Ages and contemporaneous theories that deemed vision the basis of empirical truth, Recht provides students and scholars with a new and powerful lens through which to view Gothic art and architecture. 
 

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A personal and new synthesis, bringing together a deep knowledge of historiography and a strong theoretical reflection based on empirical scholarship.”

(Le Monde )

“A masterly, and very personal, analysis of gothic art.”—L’Histoire on the French edition

(L'Histoire )

“This interpretation of gothic art, which deals not only with architecture, but also with spirituality and theology, is extraordinarily rich.”—L''Express
 

(L'Express )

“Recht seeks to understand the dual evolution of changing theological positions—including such factors as private devotion and even religious taste—and modes of representation. Central to his idea is that the notions of seeing, in theological and also lay understandings, coincided with changes in representation; that ‘believing and seeing,’ as the title declares, are part of the same cultural system and, moreover, contingent on one another for the success of representation. . . . Recht’s book is especially at its most engaging when it opens up the treatment of images to suggest that ways of seeing, believing, and making constitute all together ‘l’art des cathedrales.’”—Art Bulletin, on the French edition

(Art Bulletin )

"An ambitious, broad-ranging study of the role and function of the image within the medieval church. Roland Recht, here in a translation by Mary Whitehall, brings together two subjects that are usually studied separately, architecture and sacred images, and he proposes that the latter cannot be understood or experienced without the former, in both spatial and liturgical terms. . . . Recht unfolds his analysis of the complex and multiple functions of medieval church sculpture within the many-sided prism of ambient space, ritual and liturgy and doctrine, enabling viewers who inhabit a different visual and spiritual world to recreate some part of the role of the image for the medieval viewer. . . .

This volume is of fundamental importance to the study of medieval art, and should become part of the intellectual apparatus of all who concern themselves with the religious image."—Caroline Bruzelius, Times Higher Education

(Caroline Bruzelius Times Higher Education )

"Readers will be rewarded by Recht''s brilliant analysis of Gothic architectural polychromy, stained glass, and stone sculpture, and should find the unity of Recht''s ''vision'' of the Gothic ultimately convincing."—Choice

(Choice )

"An intriguing study of Gothic accompanied by investigation of many critical questions in the discipline, written by an observant and thoughtful scholar."—Charlotte A. Stanford, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

(Charlotte A. Stanford Bryn Mawr Classical Review )

"What has often been reduced to pious simplicity . . . is now rediscovered as vibrant, sophisticated, and flexibly intellectual. Whatever viewpoint one brings to Gothic architecture, one''s understanding of medieval art will be challenged and enhanced by Recht''s scholarly, measured panorama."—Matthew Alderman, First Things

(Matthew Alderman First Things )

About the Author

Roland Recht is professor of art history at the University of Strasbourg. Mary Whittall (1937-2005) translated many books from French and German, including several for the University of Chicago Press.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (October 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226706060
• ISBN-13: 978-0226706061
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,510,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Strong New Entry into the Library of Gothic Architecture, July 22, 2010

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This review is from: Believing and Seeing: The Art of Gothic Cathedrals (Hardcover)

This is an impressive text which covers many of the philosophical concepts surrounding the emergence and implementation of what we now refer to as "gothic" in 13th - 15th century Europe. The book distinguishes is itself from many other books on gothic in that it is not simply a discussion on gothic architectural components, building procedures, and so on, but rather takes a more holistic approach towards the subject, examining in detail the issues inherent in the "gothic" form, particularly in how the form was executed in medieval France and England.

This is a new edition to the library of gothic oriented publications, and is a welcome one at that. Although translated from the original French, the translator, Mary Whittall, has again shown herself as a magnificent translator who has the ability to transmit original meaning in nuance in an exacting, yet smooth reading, manner. That's a good thing, because the content itself in this book is a richly described and heavily nuanced look at the gothic movement, and any less a translation would have done the original work an injustice. Too, the translation of this important new work on gothic makes the content available to an entire world of English speakers.

The book is not a photographic tour of gothic cathedrals. For that, try the excellent volume by the German photographer Schultz, Great Cathedrals). Instead, this is a rich text of complex thought covering the gothic movement, with a few black and white photos used simply to illustrate basic concepts. The book starts with a detailed description of basic concepts and terms, and then moves into the stylistic components of gothic and their communication of thought through symbolism and stylistic mechanisms. As one moves farther into the volume, the content develops into a more esoteric discussion of forms and styles within the typical gothic structure, culminating with a closing sequence dealing with the "transmission of forms and types." The writing is both detailed and interesting, and easily lends itself both to the scholarly and the lay reader.

An easy recommend for any person interested in gothic, Recht's work will be recognized as a significant addition to the library of gothic resources. Five stars.