Books about Foliate from Amazon.com

The foliate head has been used as an ornament in the church since the fourth or fifth century, first as a `borrowed' motif or as an actual relic of antiquity, but gradually modified to suit particular decorative requirements and to express particular ideas. A tradition of meaning was established for it in the early middle ages, but as the fantasy was spun out and expanded in the thirteenth century its possibilities of meaning were explored no less imaginatively than its decorative possibilities. The Green Man carvings of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries have many different shades and slants of meaning: some are demons, and may well refer back to the idea of the Devil as radix omnium malorum, the root of all evil; some probably represent lost souls or spectres of the demon wood. Some are far more complex: the more realistic representation of both the human and the plant elements of the motif permits a deeper exploration of the ambivalent relationship between man and nature, and there are further allusions to man's own frail, fallen and concupiscent nature and to his brief life on earth. The imagery is often ambiguous, and a Green Man who at first glance may seem the very personification of springtime and `summer is i-comen in' may on closer inspection reveal himself as a deadly horror hidden in the leaves.Kathleen Basford's introduction surveys the history and development of the Green Man from prototypes in antique and early medieval ornament to the great period of Gothic architecture when foliate heads are frequent..
Price: $25.44 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Creation of Gothic Architecture is a five-part illustrated thesaurus of the Early Gothic churches in the limestone region of northern France known as the Paris Basin. It focuses on the transformation from romanesque to gothic architecture during the years between 1120 and 1250, and when complete it will provide a comprehensive pictorial history of the 1,420 churches of the Paris Basin. Most of these churches, which represent a vital step in the evolution of western European architecture, are barely known outside the region, and have been little recorded. The completed project will: provide a photographic description of all the more significant churches; analyse stylistic changes to foliate capitals and vault-erection techniques; establish a foundation for dating the contruction phases of the churches; and, using this chronology, will identify the time and place for each of the creative ideas, inventions and innovations that produced the gothic style, follow their evolution from place to place, and identify the major creators. Dr JOHN JAMES is a world authority on medieval architecture, author of over sixty books and articles..
Price: $1171.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A complete collection of all the capitals carved in the Paris Basin before 1130 - over 4,000 - few of which have ever been published before. From this has come a profoundly significant analysis: That these carvers pursued what might be called a Quest for Order, a quest that grew into an obsession over the next two generations. By following each step in this quest in the dateable buildings in the rest of Europe, James has dated nearly every campaign in the Basin to within 5 years - a unique achievement possible only because every one of the 147 remaining works have been included. This holistic approach provides the evidence that pointed arches and rib vaults were both being employed in the Paris Basin from the mid-1080s. Volume 3 in Part B of The Creation of Gothic Architecture: The Ark of God provides valuable insights into the development of Early Romanesque carving and architecture prior to the seminal work at Chartres and Saint-Denis. It complements Part A and, with the later volumes, aims to establish from all the evidence a comprehensive chronology for the Creation of Gothic Architecture..
Price: $646.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The fifty years between 1130 and 1180 produced some of the most original and evocative capitals of the middle ages - a period that was largely responsible for the evolution of the Gothic style. But despite the fact that many are hard to examine in situ and are often too dark to observe closely, they have rarely been published before. These volumes will therefore be widely welcomed. The 7,600 illustrations they contain cover, in large and exquisite detail, nearly every capital; they include the multitude of works in the great cathedrals and abbeys of the time, including Chartres, Laon, Noyon, Paris, Saint-Denis, Senlis and Sens. The staggering range of individual creativity shows a culture able to reinvent itself in a rare and exciting way. The publication of the fourth and fifth volumes in the sequence completes the photographic archive of foliate carving from the Paris Basin during the formative two centuries in which architecture and the techniques of building were transformed. They are also the foundation for subsequent volumes which will establish a chronology for Early Gothic architecture and sculpture, as well as technological developments in rib vaults and construction methods. Dr JOHN JAMES is a world authority on medieval architecture, and author of over sixty books and articles..
Price: $1355.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]