STOKSTAD READING GUIDE 17B
CHAPTER 17, 14
TH
-CENTURY ART IN EUROPE pp. 540-559
NAME____________________________________DUE DATE_____________SCORE__________
1. Opposite is a Two-page
Opening from a book titled “The
Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux” (the
Queen of France) found on page
550 of the text. Read about and then make a “visual inventory”
description of the two scenes illustrated on these right-and-left facing pages.
2. What is illustrated in the scene circled above and what possible interpretations are offered to explain the behavior and/or symbolism of the figures in the scene?
3. According to the text, why are the two scenes from the life of Jesus paired?
4. Read the label from the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the Pucelle book:
At first glance, this tiny prayer book, with not a trace of gold, might seem an unlikely possession for a queen of France. But it is a work of exceptional artistry: the figures are rendered in delicate grisaille
(shades of gray), giving them an amazingly sculptural quality, and are accented with rich color and touches of lilac and turquoise. The 209 folios include twenty-five full-page paintings with paired images from the Infancy and Passion of Christ and scenes of the life of Saint Louis, the queen’s ancestor. In the margins, close to 700 illustrations depict the bishops, beggars, street dancers, maidens, and musicians that peopled the streets of medieval Paris, as well as apes, rabbits, dogs, and creatures of sheer fantasy. The testament of Jeanne d’Evreux identifies this prayer book, left to King
Charles V, as the one "that Pucelle illuminated." At Charles’s death, the book entered the collection of another famous bibliophile, his brother Jean, duc de Berry, patron of The Cloisters’ Belles Heures.
CHAPTER 17B Reading Guide
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( http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/470309 )
5. The remainder of Chapter 17 discusses the last part of the 14 th century in central
Europe (pp. 555–559).
Read especially about the Parler family of architects and their contributions as they relate to the Church of the Holy Cross in Germany (seen below) and the increasing complexity of vaulting systems in late Gothic architecture.
6. Notice the title for the Rottgen Pieta illustrated on page 555: Vesperbild (Pieta).
What is the meaning of the title?
Find the Rottgen Pieta at Kahn Academy and read more about it.
CHAPTER 17B Reading Guide
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