Medieval Art. Foundations of a New Humanism 1280-1440

Switzerland: Bookking International, 1995. Softcover. Medieval Art. Foundations of a New Humanism 1280-1440. The art of the fourteenth century, in a Europe ravaged by war and pestilencer, showed an astonishing vitality. But the purpose and content of the work of ast underwent a fundamental change. In the past, all the great art of the Christian West had been patronized and promoted by churchmen. After about 1280 the rise of a secular elite, prosperous merchants and powerful noblemen, broke the monopoly of monks and prelates. The authority of the Church diminished, and the patronage of the arts passed increasingly out of its hands into those of laymen. From now on, for nearly six centuries to come, art voiced the desires, dreams and anxieties of an aristocracy of princes and noblemen. That aristocracy, however, was haunted by the fear of damnation. Art accordingly remained, before all else, a devotional offering. Soon, into this world that was freeing itself from the restraints of the Church, there came like a sunburst a new and deepening sense of the physical pleasures of life, an echo of that joyful strain which runs through the culture of chivalry and which, until the end of the thirteenth century, had found expression only in the medieval epics and romances, the chansons de geste. Now painting and sculpture alos celebrated the gladness of the free spirit, the beauties of nature uninhibitedly enjoyed, the delights of courtly love. Illustrated. 221 pp. (We carry a wide selection of titles in The Arts, Theology, History, Politics, Social and Physical Sciences. academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions, Reference books ,and all types of Academic Literature.) . First Edition. Soft Cover. Near Fine. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" Tall Quarto. Hardback.