Image and ornament in the early medieval West new perspectives on post-Roman art

Scholarship often treats the post-Roman art produced in central and north-western Europe as representative of the pagan identities of the new 'Germanic' rulers of the early medieval world. In this book, Matthias Friedrich offers a critical reevaluation of the ethnic and religious categorie...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Friedrich, Matthias
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: Cambridge Books Online - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
Description
Summary:Scholarship often treats the post-Roman art produced in central and north-western Europe as representative of the pagan identities of the new 'Germanic' rulers of the early medieval world. In this book, Matthias Friedrich offers a critical reevaluation of the ethnic and religious categories of art that still inform our understanding of early medieval art and archaeology. He scrutinises early medieval visual culture by combining archaeological approaches with art historical methods based on contemporary theory. Friedrich examines the transformation of Roman imperial images, together with the contemporary, highly ornamented material culture that is epitomized by 'animal art.' Through a rigorous analysis of a range of objects, he demonstrates how these pathways produced an aesthetic that promoted variety (varietas), a cross-cultural concept that bridged the various ethnic and religious identities of post-Roman Europe and the Mediterranean worlds
Physical Description:xiv, 211 pages illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white), digital