Stone Fidelity

Marriage and Emotion in Medieval Tomb Sculpture

By: Jessica Barker

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Paperback | 14 June 2022

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Paperback
354 Pages

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26.5 x 16.5 x 1.5

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Pioneering investigation of the popular "double tomb" effigies in the Middle Ages. 2022 Historians of British Art Book Award for Exemplary Scholarship on the Period before 1600 2021 International Center of Medieval Art Annual Book Prize Medieval tombs often depict husband and wife lying side-by-side, and hand in hand, immortalised in elegantly carved stone: what Philip Larkin's poem An Arundel Tomb later described as their "stone fidelity". This first full account of the "double tomb" places its rich tradition into dialogue with powerful discourses of gender, marriage, politics and emotion during the Middle Ages. As well as offering new interpretations of some of the most famous medieval tombs, such as those found in Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral, it draws attention to a host of lesser-known memorials from throughout Europe, providing an innovative vantage point from which to reconsider the material culture of medieval marriage. Setting these twin effigies alongside wedding rings and dresses as the agents of matrimonial ritual and embodied symbolism, the author presents the "double tomb" as far more than mere romantic sentiment. Rather, it reveals the careful artifice beneath their seductive emotional surfaces: the artistic, religious, political and legal agendas underlying the medieval rhetoric of married love. Published with the generous financial assistance of the Henry Moore Foundation.

Industry Reviews

[Richly] satisfying [...] Handsomely produced [...] Overall, it is a remarkable achievement, itself a successful marriage of different approaches which are brought together with clarity and perception. * THE RICARDIAN *
[This] attractively-produced and well-illustrated volume is thoroughly researched. * ECCLESIOLOGY TODAY *
[A] magnificent and original study. -- Christopher Howse * DAILY TELEGRAPH *
[This book] leads the way in the current movement urging the reappraisal of pre-Reformation monuments by what is regarded as a holistic art-historical contextualisation. . . . It is certainly essential reading for all interested in medieval church monuments. * Peregrinations *

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