1st Edition

Agency, Visuality and Society at the Chartreuse de Champmol

By Sherry C.M. Lindquist Copyright 2008
    284 Pages
    by Routledge

    Grounded in archival sources, this interdisciplinary study explores the profound historical significance of the mausoleum of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy - the Chartreuse de Champmol. Although the monument is well known as the site of pivotal works of art by Claus Sluter, Melchior Broederlam, Jean de Beaumetz and others, until now art historians have not considered how these works functioned at the center of a complex social matrix. Sherry Lindquist here considers the sacred subjects of the various sculptures and paintings not merely as devotional tools or theological statements, but as profoundly influential social instruments that negotiated complex interactions of power. Lindquist's sophisticated discussion coordinates analysis of primary sources with the most up-to-date scholarship in the field of art history, not only with respect to late medieval Burgundian art, but also to more theoretical questions pertaining to reception.

    Contents: A note on the sources; Introduction; The monument; Agency; Visuality; Society; Works cited; Index.

    Biography

    Sherry C.M. Lindquist is Professor of Art History at Western Illinois University. She is the author of Agency, Visuality and Society at the Chartreuse de Champmol (2008), and editor of Meanings of Nudity in Medieval Art (2012).

    ’Sherry Lindquist’s study of the art program at the Chartreuse de Champmol is a fine work of analysis and theoretical reformulation of the site’s original significance. ...Although a detailed synthetic study of a large art program, the questions Lindquist asks and the levels of investigation which she pursues make this valuable reading for both scholars and upper-level university students, whether or not they have any need to know so much about the Chartreuse de Champmol. ...It is an inclusive and nuanced approach to art-historical works from which we can all learn much.’ H-France Review ’Among the book's many strengths, one of the most valuable is the author's description of the foundation's original state with all its liturgical and other furnishings. I do not know of a more complete description of this monastic complex anywhere, and it is extraordinarily helpful in understanding what the original impact of the monastery would have been on those who visited. ... Lindquist's book supplies the reader with facts culled from archival evidence; it collects all of the extant material from the monastery; and it provides us with an intriguing set of methods for studying the monastic complex. The book encourages us to think further and to ask more interesting questions about Champmol than previous scholarship has; it is a most welcome contribution.’ Speculum