Picturing the Celestial City:
The Medieval Stained Glass of Beauvais Cathedral
Michael W. Cothren

Cloth | 2006 | $95.00 / £65.00
288 pp. | 8 1/2 x 11 | 64 color illustrations. 180 halftones.

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Introduction [PDF]

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The cathedral of Saint-Pierre in Beauvais, France, is most famous as a failure--its choir vaults came crashing down in 1284--and only secondarily for its soaring beauty. This lavishly illustrated and elegantly written book represents the first serious look at the stunning collection of Gothic stained glass windows that has always dominated the experience of those who enter Beauvais Cathedral.

Chapter by chapter, Michael Cothren traces the glazing through four successive campaigns that bridged the century between the 1240s and the 1340s. The reader is transported back in history, gaining fascinating insight into what the glazing of Beauvais actually would have looked like as well as what it would have communicated to those who frequented the cathedral. Contrary to the widespread assumption that these windows are heavily restored, Cothren shows that they are in fact surprisingly well preserved, especially in light of the cathedral's infamous history of architectural disaster.

More importantly, Cothren goes far to dismantle a long-held misconception about medieval painted windows, and indeed monumental medieval pictorial art in general: the notion that it was conceived and produced as a substitute text for ignorant, illiterate folks, providing for them a "Bible of the Poor." Indeed, Cothren shows us that stained glass windows, rich with shaded meanings, functioned more like sermon than scripture. As an ensemble, they created a radiant interpretive backdrop that explicated and situated the performance of the Mass in this giant liturgical theater.

Review:

"[T]his is a splendid selection of both archival and recent photographs that provides excellent visual documentation. . . . [T]his book . . . without a doubt constitutes the most accessible scholarly study of the 13th- and 14th- century glazing of Beauvais Cathedral to date and is likely long to remain so. . . . Cothren hs not only worked out the chronology of the glas brilliantly; he presents it here with admirable clarity."--James Bugslag, Journal of Stained Glass

Endorsements:

"Picturing the Celestial City presents the Gothic stained glass of Beauvais Cathedral in the first and only serious scholarly venture ever undertaken, and it does so superbly. Beauvais is one of the great French Gothic cathedrals discussed in every architectural survey--the tallest and the 'final' one of the series, its audacity checkmated by the collapse of the high vaults in 1284. Cothren has a magnificent command of the growing body of research about it and makes an enormous contribution to the research. His scholarship is sound and thorough, and his writing is fluent, graceful, and convincing."--Meredith P. Lillich, Syracuse University

"Not only will this book--by a scholar in high esteem in the field--be a staple for scholars and students of medieval stained glass. Addressing as it does the medieval life of the cathedral in a broadly defined spirit, it will also be welcomed by those interested generally in Gothic architecture and medieval architecture who seek insight into the entire cathedral and its life."--Stephen Murray, Columbia University

Table of Contents:

Preface xi
Introduction 1
CHAPTER I: The First Campaign
Glazing the Virgin Chapel during the 1240s 5
CHAPTER II: The Second Campaign The Original Glazing of the Upper Choir, ca. 1255-1265 101
CHAPTER III: The Third Campaign
Post-Collapse Repair and Refurbishment in
Chapels during the 1290s 125
CHAPTER IV: The Fourth Campaign Restorers and Creators, Working Upstairs and Down in the 1340s 151
CONCLUSION 193
APPENDIX A: Transformation and Restoration of the Medieval Glazing: A Brief History 201
APPENDIX B: Stained Glass from the Saint-John Chapel, Now in the Musée de Picardie, Amiens 207
APPENDIX C: The Houses of Roche Guyon and the Chatelains of Beauvais in the Fourteenth Century 213
NOTES 215
BIBLIOGRAPHY 255
index 267
PHOTOGRAPH AND ILLUSTRATION credits 277

Subject Area:

• Art and Architecture

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File created: 10/18/2009

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