Main entry:

Blum, Pamela Z.

Title & Author:

Early Gothic Saint-Denis : restorations and survivals / Pamela Z. Blum.

Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, ©1992.

Description:

xii, 187 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-182) and index.
Ch. 1. Saint-Denis in History -- Ch. 2. Nineteenth-Century Restorations -- Ch. 3. The Great Tympanum of the Central Portal. The Figure of Christ. The Resurrection Frieze. The Apostles, Virgin, and Flanking Angels. The Lunette with Tympanum Angels -- Ch. 4. The Judgment and Trinity of the Center Archivolts. The Judging Christ. Angels Presenting Souls for Judgment. Censing Angels. The Trinity -- Ch. 5. The Damned and the Blessed of the First Archivolt. The Damned and the Tortures of Hell. Paradise, the Blessed, and the Fifth Wise Virgin -- Ch. 6. The Jamb Sculptures with the Parable of the Ten Virgins. The Wise and Foolish Virgins and the Two Atlantids. The Jamb Colonnettes. The Decorated Plinths and Bases. The Capitals and Abaci -- Ch. 7. The Old Testament Patriarchs, or Elders of the Apocalypse, on the Three Outer Archivolts -- Ch. 8. Style and Meaning in the Central Portal.
A digital reproduction is available from E-Editions, a collaboration of the University of California Press and the California Digital Library's eScholarship program.

Summary:

The Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis, one of the principal Gothic monuments of France, was completely restored in the nineteenth century. Contemporary critics denounced the restoration of the western portals and proclaimed the sculptures ruined forever by the blatantly discordant work and deprived of all historical interest. Because that opinion persisted, scholars have omitted the sculptural program from discussions of style in the Ile-de-France during the transition from Romanesque to Early Gothic art. In a study that is a model of archaeological methods, Pamela Z. Blum persuasively counters earlier scholars' assumptions. Early Gothic Saint-Denis: Restorations and Survivals presents convincing evidence for the survival, untouched, of a significant amount of twelfth-century scripture of high quality. Indeed, the well-preserved sculptural passages provide a key to the Early Gothic style as well as revealing the distinct styles of three mutually influenced artists. Blum's penetrating analyses of the techniques and materials used in restoration are accompanied by revealing photograph-diagrams that distinguish original from later work. Blum's investigation lays the groundwork for further stylistic and iconographic considerations of sculpture from any past century. Her work has relevance not only for students and scholars of medieval art but for curators and collectors as well. Anyone concerned with survivals from the past will appreciate the scrupulous processes of detection and connoisseurship that the author has applied to one of France's greatest monuments.

Resources:
Table of contents
View this book online, via University of California eScholarship Editions, both on- and off-campus
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description

ISBN:

0520073711 (cloth)
9780520073715 (cloth)
0520073738 (paper)
9780520073739 (paper)

Subject:

Abbaye de Saint-Denis (Saint-Denis, France)
Abbaye royale de Saint-Denis (Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France)
Abbaye de Saint-Denis (Saint-Denis, France) Details.
Abbaye de Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis)
Sculpture, Gothic Conservation and restoration France Saint-Denis.
Sculpture, French Conservation and restoration France Saint-Denis.
Christian art and symbolism Medieval, 500-1500 Conservation and restoration France Saint-Denis.
Sculpture gothique Conservation et restauration France Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis)
Sculpture française Conservation et restauration France Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis)
Art chrétien 500-1500 (Moyen Âge) Conservation et restauration France Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis)
Sculpture, French Conservation and restoration.
Sculpture, Gothic Conservation and restoration.
Figurenportal
Portal
Restaurierung
Westportal
Plastische kunst.
Restauratie.
Abbaye de Saint-Denis.
Sculpture, French Saint Denis Conservation and restoration.
Christian art and symbolism Medieval, 500-1500 Conservation and restoration.
Sculpture gothique France Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) Conservation et restauration.
Art chrétien France Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) Moyen âge.
Sculpture gothique Conservation et restauration.
Sculpture gothique France Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis)
Art gothique France Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis)
France Saint-Denis.
Klosterkirche Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) Basilique.
Saint-Denis Klosterkirche.
Sculptures Gothic style
Architecture Gothic style
France

Holdings:

Location: Library main 72829
Call No.: ID:92-B1392
Status: Available