Overview

Full Product Details

9780271083445

Table of Contents

Reviews

A provocative and stimulating book. -Caroline Bruzelius, EuropeNow Maile Hutterer opens our minds to what our eyes have always told us about the great French cathedrals: that the giant flying buttresses that ring their exteriors are not mere structural devices but inspired works of architecture as an art. Unlike the relatively uniform interiors of these huge buildings, no two sets of buttressing are alike. They vary in extravagant and subtle ways, and in the process, they accrue important layers of meaning through sculptural ornament as well as their structure and shaping of space. They now have a meaningful history. A breakthrough contribution to the study of medieval architecture. -Marvin Trachtenberg, author of Building-in-Time: From Giotto to Alberti and Modern Oblivion Framing the Church explores the multivalent impact of the new buttressing systems that transformed Gothic architecture. Anchored by case studies of French buildings from twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, Maile Hutterer creates a rich conversation between ecclesiastical and secular architecture, the visual arts, and historical sources to reveal the push and pull between aesthetics and stability in the design of structural frames, their surprising social consequences, and their role as agents of symbolic expression. -Michael T. Davis, Mount Holyoke College From the commercial zones flying buttresses defined on the ground to the protective gargoyles they held up against the sky, the many roles and meanings of this most characteristically Gothic architectural invention are illuminated in Maile Hutterer's lucid, beautifully illustrated book.. Apart from their structural importance, Hutterer expertly demonstrates how, through their distinctive formal design and figural embellishments, flying buttresses shaped urban space and declared the church's efficacy both within and far beyond the cathedral precinct. -Jacqueline E. Jung, author of The Gothic Screen: Space, Sculpture, and Community in the Cathedrals of France and Germany, ca. 1200-1400 Hutterer compellingly transforms our understanding of the French Gothic buttress from a purely structural and visual component to one that also has social and cultural significance for the medieval viewer. Markers of divine space, buttresses are now understood to serve a variety of functions, including providing the setting for commercial exchange and serving as markers of jurisdiction. They now stand revealed as not only part of an architectural system of element and support but also part of a cultural network of sacred meaning and religious authority. -Lisa Reilly, author of An Architectural History of Peterborough Cathedral

Framing the Church explores the multivalent impact of the new buttressing systems that transformed Gothic architecture. Anchored by case studies of French buildings from twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, Maile Hutterer creates a rich conversation between ecclesiastical and secular architecture, the visual arts, and historical sources to reveal the push and pull between aesthetics and stability in the design of structural frames, their surprising social consequences, and their role as agents of symbolic expression. -Michael T. Davis, Mount Holyoke College From the commercial zones flying buttresses defined on the ground to the protective gargoyles they held up against the sky, the many roles and meanings of this most characteristically Gothic architectural invention are illuminated in Maile Hutterer's lucid, beautifully illustrated book.. Apart from their structural importance, Hutterer expertly demonstrates how, through their distinctive formal design and figural embellishments, flying buttresses shaped urban space and declared the church's efficacy both within and far beyond the cathedral precinct. -Jacqueline E. Jung, author of The Gothic Screen: Space, Sculpture, and Community in the Cathedrals of France and Germany, ca. 1200-1400 Hutterer compellingly transforms our understanding of the French Gothic buttress from a purely structural and visual component to one that also has social and cultural significance for the medieval viewer. Markers of divine space, buttresses are now understood to serve a variety of functions, including providing the setting for commercial exchange and serving as markers of jurisdiction. They now stand revealed as not only part of an architectural system of element and support but also part of a cultural network of sacred meaning and religious authority. -Lisa Reilly, author of An Architectural History of Peterborough Cathedral Maile Hutterer opens our minds to what our eyes have always told us about the great French cathedrals: that the giant flying buttresses that ring their exteriors are not mere structural devices but inspired works of architecture as an art. Unlike the relatively uniform interiors of these huge buildings, no two sets of buttressing are alike. They vary in extravagant and subtle ways, and in the process, they accrue important layers of meaning through sculptural ornament as well as their structure and shaping of space. They now have a meaningful history. A breakthrough contribution to the study of medieval architecture. -Marvin Trachtenberg, author of Building-in-Time: From Giotto to Alberti and Modern Oblivion

Author Information

Maile S. Hutterer is Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture at the University of Oregon.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available