The Utrecht Psalter, one of the great survivals of the Carolingian Renaissance, was made about 820-835 at the Benedictine monastery of Hautvilliers and decorated with 166 dynamic, almost impressionistic pen drawings which are masterly interpretation of the Psalter text. In 1996 it was exhibited in Utrecht, alongside related manuscripts such as the Aachen and Ebbo Gospels, the Byzantine Khludov Psalter and the later English Harly and Eadwine Psalters, copied in Canterbury when the Utrecht Psalter was for some centuries in England. Five scholarly essays, designed for a wide-ranging readership, include a discussion of Carolingian cultural achievements; an analysis of the Psalter itself and its place in the history of book production; an overview of medieval Psalter illustration in both Byzantium and the West; and an exa- mination of the English copies of the Utrect Psalter in the later Middle Ages.

A study of the making of the Harley Psalter at Christ Church Canterbury c.1020-1130.

Across the nine thematic chapters of Experiencing Medieval Art, renowned art historian Herbert L. Kessler considers functional objects as well as paintings and sculptures; the circumstances, processes, and materials of production; the conflictual relationship between art objects and notions of an ineffable deity; the context surrounding medieval art; and questions of apprehension, aesthetics, and modern presentation. He also introduces the exciting discoveries and revelations that have revolutionized contemporary understanding of medieval art and identifies the vexing challenges that still remain. With 16 color plates and 81 images in all—including the stained glass of Chartres Cathedral, the mosaics of San Marco, and the Utrecht Psalter, as well as newly discovered works such as the frescoes in Rome’s aula gotica and a twelfth-century aquamanile in Hildesheim—Experiencing Medieval Art makes the complex history of medieval art accessible for students of art history and scholars of medieval history, theology, and literature.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.