Romanesque Tomb Effigies Death And Redemption In Medieval Europe 10001200 Shirin Fozi by Shirin Fozi 9780271087191, 0271087196 instant download after payment.

Framed by evocative inscriptions, tumultuous historical events, and the ambiguities of Christian death, Romanesque tomb effigies are the first figural monuments for the dead found in European art. In this book, Shirin Fozi explores these provocative markers of life and death, establishing early tomb figures as a coherent genre that hinged upon histories of failure and frustrated ambition. In sharp contrast to later recumbent funerary figures, none of the known European tomb effigies made before circa 1180 were commissioned by the people they represented, and all of the identifiable examples of these tombs were dedicated to individuals marked by failure rather than triumph. Drawing on this evidence, Fozi argues that Romanesque effigies were created to address social rather than individual anxieties: they compensated for defeat by converting local losses into an expectation of eternal triumph, comforting the embarrassed heirs of those whose ambitions had failed and offering compensation for the disappointments of the world. Featuring numerous examples and engaging the visual, historical, and theological contexts that inform them, this groundbreaking work adds a fresh dimension to the study of monumental sculpture and the idea of the individual in the northern European Middle Ages. It will appeal to scholars of medieval art history and medieval studies.