Papers by Rachel Dressler
Welcome to Different Visions: A Journal of New Perspectives on Medieval Art
Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, 2020
Artistic Representations: Women in/and Medieval Visual Culture
Of Armor and Men in Medieval England
Contents: Introduction Overview of the English military effigy The men behind the stones The knig... more Contents: Introduction Overview of the English military effigy The men behind the stones The knight's resurrected body The knight's social body The knight's gendered body Conclusion Appendices Bibliography Index.
Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, 2013
Medieval Feminist Forum, 2007
Alabaster and Agency: The Tomb of Edward II in Gloucester Cathedral
Mediaevalia, 2019
Abstract:The Tomb of Edward II is an imposing monument with a striking tiered, gabled superstruct... more Abstract:The Tomb of Edward II is an imposing monument with a striking tiered, gabled superstructure and an alabaster effigy of the king. The elaborate nature of this memorial is unexpected when one contemplates the difficult course of Edward's reign and, especially, its termination in his deposition and death. Equally surprising is the use of alabaster for his figure, as this material had never previously been used for an effigy and was not at the time a particularly valued stone. This essay considers what might have been the response to this tomb and to the alabaster figure of the king within the context of his grim end. Alabaster had a longstanding lapidary tradition that associated it with preserving the dead, and was mentioned in the Bible in relation to the life of Christ. These associations, when coupled with alabaster's whiteness and luminosity, may have worked to sanctify the former ruler, thus camouflaging the turbulence at the end of his life and legitimating the succession of his son Edward III to the throne.
Janet Snyder, Early Gothic Column-Figure Sculpture in France: Appearance, Materials, and Significance. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate, 2011. Pp. 306; 203 b&w and 20 color figs. $119.95. ISBN: 9781409400653
Speculum, 2013
Different Visions, 2008
The study of medieval tomb sculpture offers us a glimpse into the ways in which individuals and f... more The study of medieval tomb sculpture offers us a glimpse into the ways in which individuals and families constructed themselves as elite, salvation-worthy subjects in a culture obsessed simultaneously with earthly status and divine approbation. Medieval funeral monuments served many significant functions for their commissioners and viewers. For the commissioners they were first and foremost memorials to the deceased and vehicles for attracting prayers in the hope of a better afterlife. Secondarily, they advertised the rank, status and lineage of both the commemorated and her or his family through the effigy's costume and attributes, heraldic decorations, inscriptions, and occasional inclusion of other family members represented as mourners on the monument. 1 For beholders, tomb effigies provided the occasion for the good work of prayers on another's behalf and for the contemplation of one's own death and the need for preparation. All who participated in devotional practices surrounding the medieval tomb forged a link between heaven and earth, and between the past, the lifetime of the deceased and her or his ancestors, and the future through the viewer's contemplation and prayer. Nevertheless, despite its centrality in medieval religious practice and its potential for helping to understand a remote period's deepest concerns, tomb sculpture may be one of the least accessible categories of medieval art to the contemporary viewer. Unlike narrative episodes in architectural sculpture, manuscripts or stained glass, funerary effigies offer little in the way of gesture, setting, or obvious plot to aid the beholder's understanding or emotional engagement. Instead, tombs feature serene, recumbent figures with hands folded in devotion and eyes open in rapt contemplation of the divine, seeming at once mysterious and distant. Yet, despite their reticence, tomb figures can reward persistent study, especially those figures assembled in family chapels. Unlike narrative representations in which figures interact using gesture and glance before the viewer's gaze, tomb effigies depend upon the beholder's gaze to activate them: the viewer becomes a participant in the memorializing performance. The viewer's gaze travels from tomb to tomb noting the size, attributes and positioning of each. These observations build upon one another, creating an imagined history for each figure and all the figures together. For the medieval viewer sequential contemplation of individual memorials Dressler-Gender as Spectacle and Construct: The Gyvernay Effigies at St.
Medieval Maps and the Bayeux Embroidery: A Shared Historical Discourse of Place and Space
Medieval Encounters, 1995
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, busy fairs and pilgrimage shrines brought a variety ... more During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, busy fairs and pilgrimage shrines brought a variety of visitors to Notre-Dame de Chartres (fig. 1). Part of the fame of Chartres derived from its possession of a valuable relic, the Holy Tunic of the Virgin, which was given to the cathedral by Charles the Bald around 876.1 Because of this object's prestige, Chartres was the focus of a devotional cult among the upper classes of society.2 2
Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, 2015
In September 1327 the deposed king Edward II of England died under mysterious circumstances at Be... more In September 1327 the deposed king Edward II of England died under mysterious circumstances at Berkeley Castle; he was buried in St. Peter's Abbey, now Gloucester Cathedral, three months later. His body was eventually housed in an elaborate tomb comprised of a locally sourced Painswick oolitic limestone base and tomb chest with Purbeck marble panels, a multi-tiered limestone and Purbeck canopy, and an alabaster effigy (Figure 1). The installation of this monument sparked the production of a series of royal alabaster effigies and, following these commissions, an increasing number of aristocratic tomb figures. This essay examines that remarkable flowering in order to suggest an explanation of alabaster’s rather sudden popularity as a memorializing material. In doing so, it will consider a network of
Different Visions: A Journal of New Perspectives on Medieval Art (www.differentvisions.org). In the process of completing
how Me the Money! ” was conceived as a roundtable and a workshop on grant writing, one focused es... more how Me the Money! ” was conceived as a roundtable and a workshop on grant writing, one focused especially on the best strategies for securing funding for medieval feminist research projects. Our aim was to provide a venue at the annual International Congress on Medieval Studies (at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo) for accomplished scholars to share their experiences and collective wisdom about grant writing and help demystify the process for junior scholars and graduate students. The session had its genesis when Rachel was developing
Medieval Feminist Forum, 2008
how Me the Money!" was conceived as a roundtable and a workshop on grant writing, one focused esp... more how Me the Money!" was conceived as a roundtable and a workshop on grant writing, one focused especially on the best strategies for securing funding for medieval feminist research projects. Our aim was to provide a venue at the annual International Congress on Medieval Studies (at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo) for accomplished scholars to share their experiences and collective wisdom about grant writing and help demystify the process for junior scholars and graduate students. The session had its genesis when Rachel was developing an application for an NEH Digital Humanities Initiative grant to support the launch of an electronic, open-access journal, Different Visions: A Journal of New Perspectives on Medieval Art (www.differentvisions.org). In the process of completing the NEH application, she sought the guidance of the NEH Program Director in charge of the grant category. When the Program Director learned that the journal would feature essays employing critical theoretical approaches, including Feminism, Gender Theory, and Queer Theory, she stated categorically that no review committee would consider such a grant application for funding. She also stressed that she was responsible for composing such committees. It became clear that the Program Director opposed the mission of Different Visions, thus, virtually ensuring that the application would fail. When Rachel shared this information with Ginny, we began to wonder how many scholars had had grants denied because of the particular approach they were taking to their material. We agreed that we could use some advice from those who had been successful grant recipients and that a Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship-sponsored session would be an ideal venue for this exchange of information, a session we called "Show Me the Money! Grants for Feminist Work" (A Roundtable).
Cross-legged knights and signification in English medieval tomb sculpture
Studies in Iconography, 2000
The writer examines the motif of the distinctive cross-legged pose in England's 13th- and 14t... more The writer examines the motif of the distinctive cross-legged pose in England's 13th- and 14th-century knightly effigies. She applies current theoretical and historical studies of gender construction and chivalric ideologies to the question of this attitude's significance in military effigies. She contends that the overlapping lower limbs speak of a culture in which gender is inseparable from social role, suggesting that in the 13th and 14th centuries social difference was as much at issue as gender anxiety.
Of Armor and Men In Medieval England: the Chivalric Rhetoric of Three English Knights' Effigies
Despite the profusion of knightly effigies created between c. 1240 and c. 1330 for tombs througho... more Despite the profusion of knightly effigies created between c. 1240 and c. 1330 for tombs throughout the British Isles, these commemorative figures are relatively unknown to art historians and medievalists. Until now, their rich visual impact and significance has been relatively ...
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Papers by Rachel Dressler