TY - BOOK ID - 137920820 TI - The marvellous and the monstrous in the sculpture of twelfth-century Europe PY - 2013 PB - Woodbridge : The Boydell Press, DB - UniCat KW - Monsters in art. KW - Christian art and symbolism KW - Decoration and ornament, Architectural KW - Decoration and ornament, Romanesque KW - Sculpture, European KW - Sculpture, Romanesque KW - Themes, motives. KW - 12th century art. KW - Dark Age. KW - Fear in art. KW - Medieval France. KW - Medieval Manuscript. KW - Medieval Portugal. KW - Medieval monsters. KW - Romanesque monster. KW - Romanesque sculpture. KW - Twelfth-century. KW - green man. KW - grotesques. KW - medieval art. KW - medieval sculture. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:137920820 AB - Representations of monsters and the monstrous are common in medieval art and architecture, from the grotesques in the borders of illuminated manuscripts to the symbol of the "green man", widespread inchurches and cathedrals. These mysterious depictions are frequently interpreted as embodying or mitigating the fears symptomatic of a "dark age". This book, however, considers an alternative scenario: in what ways did monsters in twelfth-century sculpture help audiences envision, perhaps even achieve, various ambitions? Using examples of Romanesque sculpture from across Europe, with a focus on France and northern Portugal, the author suggests that medieval representations of monsters could service ideals, whether intellectual, political, religious, and social, even as they could simultaneously articulate fears; he argues that their material presence energizes works of art in paradoxical, even contradictory ways. In this way, Romanesque monsters resist containment within modern interpretive categories and offer testimony to the density and nuance of the medieval imagination.<BR><BR> Kirk Ambrose is Associate Professor & Chair, Department of Art and Art History, University of Colorado Boulder. ER -