Late medieval enclosed gardens of the Low Countries : contributions to gender and artistic expression /

Baert, Barbara,

Late medieval enclosed gardens of the Low Countries : contributions to gender and artistic expression / Barbara Baert. - Leuven : Peeters, 2016. - 110 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm. - Studies in iconology 2 . - Studies in iconology ; 2. .

Includes bibliographical references and index.

During the Late Middle Ages a unique type of 'mixed media' recycled and remnant art arose in houses of religious women in the Low Countries: Enclosed Gardens. These are retables, sometimes with painted side panels, the central section filled not only with narrative sculpture, but also with all sorts of trinkets and hand-worked textiles. Adornments include relics, wax medallions, gemstones set in silver, pilgrimage souvenirs, parchment banderoles, flowers made from textiles with silk thread, semi-precious stones, pearls and quilling (a decorative technique using rolled paper). The ensemble is an impressive and one-of-a-kind display and presents as an intoxicating garden. In this essay the exceptional heritage of such Enclosed Gardens is interpreted from a range of approaches. The Enclosed Garden is studied as a symbol of paradise and mystical union, as the sanctuary of interiority, as the sublimation of the sensorium (in particular the sense of smell), as a typical gendered product, and as a centre of psycho-energetic creative processes.--Back cover.

9789042932333 9042932333

2016434485


Altarpieces--Benelux countries.
Altarpieces--Belgium--Mechelen.
Art--Themes, motives.--Benelux countries
Christian art and symbolism--Benelux countries.
Sex role in art.
Nature in art.
Paradise in art.

N7953 / .B34 2016

704.9
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