This book seeks to further our understanding of the socio-genesis of artistic modernity by turning to micro-history. It explores a late-medieval decorative procedure that emerged and spread in northern and central France from the early fifteenth century to the start of the following century. Using the well-known miniature, the Building of Solomon's temple in Jerusalem from the fifteenth-century codex of Les Antiquites judaiques as a starting point, this study deals with architecture and technical knowledge of builders. This investigation unpacks and reveals many aspects of the technical and visual culture of late medieval craftsmen and artists. The virtuosic skills these artisans displayed are worthy of inclusion in the development of technical practices of Flamboyant Gothic architecture. They also reflect broader cultural and social configurations, which go far beyond the history of building. This micro-historical perspective on what can be called hyper-technical Gothic contributes to our appreciation of the role of technical mastery in establishing social hierarchies and artistic individuation processes during the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern period.

This volume engages with notions of lateness and modernity in medieval architecture, broadly conceived geographically, temporally, methodologically, and theoretically. It aims to (re)situate secular and religious buildings from the 14th through the 16th centuries that are indebted to medieval building practices and designs, within the more established narratives of art and architectural history.

A new paradigm combining architectural tradition with emerging technologies Digital tools have launched architecture into a dizzying new era, one in which wood, stone, metal, glass, and other traditional materials are augmented by pixels and code. In this ambitious exploration, an eminent thinker examines what, exactly, the building blocks of architecture have meant over the centuries and how technology may—or may not—be changing how we think about them. Antoine Picon argues that materiality is not only about matter and that the silence and inscrutability—the otherness—of raw materials work against humanity’s need to live in a meaningful world. He describes how people define who they are, in part, through their specific physical experience of architectural materials and spaces. Indeed, Picon asserts, the entire paradox of the architectural discipline consists in its desire to render matter expressive to human beings. Through a retrospective review of canonical moments in Western European architecture, Picon offers an original perspective on the ways materiality has varied throughout centuries, demonstrating how experiences of the physical world have changed in relation to the evolution of human subjectivity. Ultimately, Picon concludes that computer-based design methods are not an abrupt departure from previous architectural traditions but rather a new way for architects to control material resources. The result reinforces the fundamentally humanistic nature of architectural endeavor with an increasing sense of design freedom and a release from material constraint in the digital era.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Preface -- Table of Contents -- Illustrations -- PART I. ROMANESQUE FRANCE -- CHAPTER 1. Historical Background -- CHAPTER 2. The Monastic Site -- CHAPTER 3. The Monastic Plan -- CHAPTER 4· The Romanesque Church -- CHAPTER 5· Evolution of Romanesque Architecture -- CHAPTER 6. Variety in Romanesque Architecture -- CHAPTER 7· Romanesque Sculpture and Painting -- PART II. EARLY GOTHIC OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY -- CHAPTER 8. Historical Background -- CHAPTER 9. The Abbey of Saint-Denis -- CHAPTER 10. The Cathedral of Sens -- CHAPTER 11. The Cathedral of Noyon -- CHAPTER 12. The Cathedral of Laon -- CHAPTER 13· The Cathedral of Paris -- CHAPTER 14. Notre-Dame at Mantes -- CHAPTER 15. Early Gothic Sculpture and Painting -- PART III. HIGH GOTHIC OF THE EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY -- CHAPTER 16. Historical Background -- CHAPTER 17. The Cathedral of Chartres -- CHAPTER 18. The Cathedral of Soissons -- CHAPTER 19· The Cathedral of Reims -- CHAPTER 20. The Cathedral of Amiens -- CHAPTER 21. The Cathedral of Bourges -- CHAPTER 22. The Cathedral of Beauvais -- CHAPTER 23. Saint-Leu d'Esserent and Rampillon -- CHAPTER 24. High Gothic Sculpture and Painting -- PART IV. FROM RAYONNANT TO FLAMBOYANT -- CHAPTER 25. Historical Background -- CHAPTER 26. Rayonnant Architecture -- CHAPTER 27. Flamboyant Architecture -- CHAPTER 28. Secular Architecture -- CHAPTER 29. Late Gothic Sculpture -- CHAPTER 30. Illuminated Manuscripts -- CHAPTER 31. Tapestries -- PART V. THE TREASURIES OF MONASTERIES AND CATHEDRALS -- CHAPTER 32. Art of the Treasuries of Monasteries and Cathedrals -- Bibliography -- Index

The book comprises fourteen essays addressing issues of art and architecture as well as archaeology within the context of sacred space, broadly defined and encompassing a wide range of territories, methodologies, approaches, and scholarly concerns. Our point of departure is the built environment, with all that this encompasses, including religious and political ceremony, painted interiors and illuminated manuscripts, patronage, contested space, structural and environmental concerns, sensory properties, the written word as it pertains to architectural projects, and imagined spaces. In all, the scholars involved in this project find fresh approaches and uncover new meanings and interpretations in the material approached within this volume, including buildings and objects found from Europe to Asia, spanning from Late Antiquity through the end of the Middle Ages.

Through careful analysis of the Romanesque cathedral of Molfetta (in Apulia, southern Italy), Williams demonstrates how the commercial boom of the medieval Mediterranean changed the way churches were funded, designed, and built. The young bishopric of Molfetta, emerging in an economy of long-distance trade, competed with much wealthier institutions in its own diocese. Funding for the cathedral was slow and unpredictable. To adapt, the builders designed toward versatility, embracing multi-functionalism, change over time, specialization, and a heterogeneous style.