The Gothic Screen: Space, Sculpture, and Community in the Cathedrals of France and Germany, Ca.1200-1400

At the heart of Gothic cathedrals, the threshold between nave and sanctuary was marked by the choir screen, a partitioning structure of special complexity, grandeur, and beauty. At once a canopy for altars, a stage for performance, a pedestal for crucifixes and reliquaries, and a ground for spectacular arrays of narrative and iconic sculptures, the choir screen profoundly shaped the spaces of liturgy and social interaction for the diverse communities, both clerical and lay, who shared the church interior. For the first time, this book draws together the most important examples - some fully extant, others known through fragments and graphic sources - from thirteenth- and fourteenth-century France and Germany. Through analyses of both their architectural and sculptural components, Jacqueline E. Jung reveals how these furnishings, far from being barricades or hindrances, were vital vehicles of communication and shapers of a community centered on Christian rituals and stories.

Author: Jacqueline E. Jung
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 12/28/2012
Pages: 328
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.47lbs
Size: 11.20h x 8.70w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781107022959

Review Citation(s):
Choice 09/01/2013

About the Author
Jung, Jacqueline E.: - Jacqueline E. Jung is Assistant Professor of Medieval Art and Architecture in the Department of History of Art at Yale University, Connecticut. She is the author of articles in The Art Bulletin, Gesta, and numerous anthologies and catalogs both in the United States and Germany, as well as the translator of several seminal art historical writings, most notably Aloïs Riegl's Historical Grammar of the Visual Arts (2004).