A Saving Science: Capturing the Heavens in Carolingian Manuscripts
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.69 (948 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0271071265 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 312 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-08-08 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Ramírez-Weaver is Associate Professor of Medieval Art History at the University of Virginia.. Eric M
“Ramírez-Weaver’s fine book focuses on the complex factors affecting the creation, function, and understanding of astronomical manuscripts and their illustrations produced during the Carolingian period. His deeply learned study offers a leap forward from an older view, especially prevalent in art-historical scholarship, that regarded these manuscripts as copies chiefly valuable as reflections of lost ancient materials, and/or looking forward to the ‘Renaissance,’ without placing them in a contemporary context.”—Lawrence Nees, University of Delaware“Eric Ramírez-Weaver’s A Saving Science adds depth and detail to our emerging appreciation of the role of science at the Carolingian court. The beauty, regularity, and order of the circling heavens were more than just flattering analogies of imperial power: they were the syntax of a visual language in which a new ideology of Christian king
Created in an age in which careful study of the heavens served a liturgical purpose—to reckon Christian feast days and seasons accurately and thus reflect a “heavenly” order—the diagrams of celestial bodies in the Handbook of 809 are extraordinary signifiers of the intersection of Christian art and classical astronomy.Ramírez-Weaver shows how, by studying this lavishly painted and carefully executed manuscript, we gain a unique understanding of early medieval astronomy and its cultural significance. In A Saving Science, Eric Ramírez-Weaver explores the significance of early medieval astronomy in the Frankish empire, using as his lens an astronomical masterpiece, the deluxe manuscript of the Handbook of 809, painted in roughly 830 for Bishop Drogo of Metz, one of Charlemagne’s sons. In a time when the Frankish church sought to renew society through education, the Handbook of 809 presented a model in which study aided the spiritual reform of the cleric’s soul, and, by extension, enabled the spiritual care of his community. An exciting new interpretation of Frankish painting, A Saving Science shows that constellations in books such as