Pictorial Narrative in the Romanesque Cloister: Cloister Imagery and Religious Life in Medieval Spain

by Pamela A. Patton

Overview

Praised as paradisiacal or denounced as impious fantasy, the sculpture of Romanesque cloisters played a powerful role in medieval monastic life. This book demonstrates how sculpture in the cloister, the physical and spiritual heart of the religious foundation, could be shrewdly configured to articulate the most influential ideals and experiences of its individual community. Taking as its focus the visually rich, highly organized narrative programs of three twelfth-century Spanish cloisters, this book reveals the power of such imagery to reflect and reinforce the social and spiritual preoccupations of its age.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820472683
Publisher:	Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
Publication date:	10/11/2004
Series:	Hermeneutics of Art , #12
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.07(d)

About the Author

The Author: Pamela A. Patton is Associate Professor of Art History at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. She received her Ph.D. in art history from Boston University. Her articles on art and religious culture in medieval Spain have appeared in numerous professional journals and essay collections, and she is a co-author of The Meadows Museum: A Handbook of Spanish Painting and Sculpture.

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	ix
	Acknowledgments	xvii
1	Introduction
	Iconography, Program, and Meaning in the Cloister: Medieval Expectations and Modern Questions	1
	Narrative Cloisters in Romanesque Spain: A Test Case	8
	The Historical Setting	12
2	Historia fundamentum est: San Juan de la Pena
	The Benedictine Monastery of San Juan de la Pena: Centrality and Marginalization	23
	The Cloister of San Juan de la Pena	28
	The Narrative Capitals and Their Program	35
	Pictorial Narrative and Community Revival in a Benedictine Cloister	54
3	Faith and the Frontier: Santa Maria la Mayor in Tudela
	The Colegiata of Santa Maria la Mayor in Tudela: Constructing a Christian Identity	85
	The Cloister of Tudela	89
	The Program of the Tudela Cloister	95
	Apostolic Faith and Frontier Mission in Tudela	106
4	Diffusion and Disintegration: Tarragona and the Cloisters of Catalonia
	The Cathedral of Santa Tecla in Tarragona: Archiepiscopal Ambitions	137
	The Cloister of Tarragona	141
	Biblical Narrative Imagery at Tarragona	151
	Narrative Cloisters in Catalonia: Girona, Sant Cugat del Valles, and Estany	161
	Hagiographical and "Marginal" Imagery at Tarragona	170
	New Directions at Tarragona: The World of the Cathedral and the Rise of the Gothic Cloister	175
5	The Narrative Cloister in Romanesque Spain
	The Narrative Cloister in Spain and the Nature of Cloister Imagery	191
	The Role of Narrative	196
	The Role of History	198
	Why Northeastern Spain?	200
	Cloister Imagery and Religious Life: A New Model	204
	Appendices
Appendix I	Capitals in the Cloister of San Juan de la Pena	209
Appendix II	Capitals in the Cloister of Tudela	211
Appendix III	Capitals and Imposts in the Cloister of Tarragona	214
	Bibliography	219
	Illustrations	235
	Index	295