Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Fifty Pictures of Gothic Altars
The object of this Collection is to bring together a series of mediaeval altars for the benefit of architects and of others concerned in the arrangement and decoration of churches. T is intended as a supplement to the Alcuin Club Collection I, I which consisted exclusively of pictures of English altars. Here examples from Continental sources have also been used to illustrate the whole subject of the holy table in Western Europe in the Gothic period. Further illustration of the same subject will be provided in course of time from oil paintings, and from the existing remains of mediaeval altars and reredoses. In the present publication (as in Collection I) contemporary pictures have been used. These are chie?y from manuscript sources, but a few early woodcuts have been added for the sake of comparison and as showing the persistence of ancient forms even when they began to be clothed in the detail of the early Renaissance.
While some of the pictures here reproduced are among the finest examples of the miniature painting of their time, no attempt has been made to confine this Collection to work of the best execution. Good, bad and indifferent miniatures have been used, so long as they could be said to illustrate the subject. Further, in a book intended to be of some practical use, it has not been thought desirable to begin at too early a date; but rather to keep to the period of. The fuller development of Gothic art, and the time when miniatures had become more realistic than they were in earlier days.
A word of warning must here be spoken lest the reader regard these pictures as our sole guide to the arrangement and appearance of mediaeval altars. They are far from this, being merely a help to the interpretation of other evidence, partly documentary, partly that of existing structures and remains. And they cannot be taken by themselves, nor looked at without regard to the artistic conventions of the time, and those peculiarities of miniature painting which themselves require some considerable study.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
