The Altar and its Environment, 1150-1400 (Cover, Index, Intro)

(with Victor Schmidt) "Introduction", in Justin Kroesen and Victor Schmidt (eds), The Altar and its Environment, 1150-1400 [=Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages, 4], Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 1-10, 2009

Introduction to an edited volume on altars and their spatial environment in medieval churches across Europe (see also the section Edited Volumes).

Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen eBooks, 2006

"The Altar and its Decorations in Medieval Churches. A Functionalist Approach", in Medievalia. Revista d'Estudis medievals, 17, pp. 153-183, 2014

It is the aim of this article to problematize the concept of the medieval altarpiece or retable. If handbook definitions of a formal nature are followed, many configurations which actually occur in medieval churches remain overlooked. In order to understand the pluriformity of medieval altar decorations, a functional definition seems more helpful, such as ‘any object or depiction on top of or behind the altar that forms a backdrop to liturgical activity on and around the altar’.

in Structural Conservation of Panel Paintings at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence: Method, Theory, and Practice, ed. by Marco Ciatti and Cecilia Frosinini, Florence 2016, pp. pp. 15-25, 2016

This text was originally published in Italian as: Cecilia Frosinini, “Il contesto storico nell’evoluzione tipologica della pala d’altare: alcune note,” in Dipinti su tavola: La tecnica e la conservazione dei supporti, pp. 29–36. Edifir, Florence, 1999. Translated by Helen Spande.

Medievalia 23/1, 2020

Riemenschneider in situ (ed. Katherine Boivin and Gregory Bryda), 2021

The Chapel of Our Lord (Herrgottskapelle) in Creglingen offers a rare chance to study an altarpiece by Riemenschneider in its medieval space and in conjunction with other contemporary furnishings. With its well-preserved architecture and array of integral artworks, the chapel in fact belongs to the richest pre-Reformation ensembles of its type. If it has rarely been investigated as such, then this reflects a discursive focus on Riemenschneider and his workshop's regional production: the "Creglingen Altarpiece" has been treated as an isolated masterpiece and biographical artefact; a single object has become almost synonymous with a multifaceted site. 2 Viewed from the perspective of the impressive altarpiece, with its unusual free-standing position in the middle of the nave, the space has appeared incongruous to many observers (Figs. 1, 2). Initial surprise at the degree of artistic sophistication in a remote setting has often given way to disquietthe chapel has been perceived as an inadequate framework: too modest in size, poorly lit, and lacking other furnishings of comparable quality. Doubts have also emerged on the ensemble's liturgical compatibility, since the retable's Marian focus seems to stray from the eucharistic raison d'être of the altar and its site. For these reasons, some have argued that the work was not made for Creglingen at all-that it was only transferred there after the Reformation. 3 My purpose here is to reconsider the issue by taking a reverse approach: I want to look at Riemen schneider's famous altarpiece from the perspective of its less famous environment. Thus, I will examine the space and its furnishings on their own terms as a late medieval ensemble, the components of which-while not the products of a single patron or workshop-potentially show interrelations on other levels, particularly in terms of their topographical and devotional functions.

24-26 October 2019 _ Brussels/ Leuven. The general purpose of this symposium is to study the rich cultural heritage through interdisciplinary research as to contextualize the liturgical objects in their historical, spatial and cultural environment. Issues related to the provenance, the nature and the evolution will be explored in order to gain a better understanding of its religious and artistic importance. Register here: https://events.kikirpa.be/event/1/

Routledge Resources Online - The Renaissance World,K. Poole, & M. Domínguez Torres, Eds., 2024

An altarpiece is a structure located behind or above the altar table. Typically featuring painted or sculpted figural images, it provides a foil for the liturgy performed on the altar. Having no liturgical function of its own, it played an important role as a ‘book for the unlettered’, providing moral examples and stimulating devotion. The altarpiece genre originated in the thirteenth century, but in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it came to particular prominence as an effective cult image and highly valued artwork. Both painted panel winged altarpieces of Netherlandish masters such as Jan van Eyck or Roger van der Weyden, and serially produced wooden carved altarpieces of Southern Netherlandish workshops (especially Antwerp) were sought after both by local and foreign members of the public. The appreciation for the artistic qualities of these works contributed to their spreading across Europe. However, the emancipation and to some extent also the secularisation of the image contributed to a severe crisis of the altarpiece in Northern Europe during the Reformation. Questioning of the validity of images in the Christian cult, especially by more radical movements of the Reformation (e.g. Calvinism), caused in the best case an abstinence from commissions or in the worst case a destruction of images by iconoclasts (the campaign of 1566 in the Low Countries was particularly severe). Consequently, in the lands where the Reformation was successful, the number of altarpiece foundations either initially dropped (in Lutheran lands) or practically disappeared (in Reformed lands as the Northern Netherlands). From c. 1540 onwards there was a quest for a new formula of altarpiece in the Lutheran countries. Depicting biblical or contemporary scenes, acceptable within the new denomination, both traditional winged altarpieces and more ‘modern’ retables in an architectural form all’antica gained new acceptance. In countries which remained Catholic (Poland) or were re-Catholicised (e.g. the Southern Netherlands, Bohemia), a new wave of altarpiece erections ensued soon after 1570. As postulated by the Council of Trent, their task was to contribute to the revival of the cult of Eucharist, Virgin Mary and saints. The concept of a new, early Baroque retable in the form of monumental portico with a painting in its central field was developed by influential artists such as Peter Paul Rubens.

Renaissance Quarterly, 2020