The Trees of the Cross(English, Hardcover, Bryda Gregory C.)

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The Trees of the Cross(English, Hardcover, Bryda Gregory C.) is written by Bryda Gregory C. and published by Yale University Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 0300267657 (ISBN 10) and 9780300267655 (ISBN 13).

A revelatory exploration of wood's many material, ecological, and symbolic meanings in the religious art of medieval Germany "A rewarding study that is full of new insights."-Jeremy Warren, Art Newspaper In late medieval Germany, wood was a material laden with significance. It was an important part of the local environment and economy, as well as an object of religious devotion in and of itself. Gregory C. Bryda examines the multiple meanings of wood and greenery within religious art-as a material, as a feature of agrarian life, and as a symbol of the cross, whose wood has resonances with other iconographies in the liturgy. Bryda discusses how influential artists such as Matthias Gruenewald, known for the Isenheim Altarpiece, and the renowned sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider exploited wood's multivalent nature to connect spiritual themes to the lived environment outside church walls. Exploring the complex visual and material culture of the period, this lavishly illustrated volume features works ranging from monumental altarpieces to portable pictures and offers a fresh understanding of how wood in art functioned to unlock the mysteries of faith and the natural world in both liturgy and everyday life.