Vezelay: The Great Romanesque Church

Rating:
Summary: A Second Opinion
Review: Mr Fleming's review is something of an academic exercise; useful, but directed at a scholarly minority. I bought this book to help me appreciate the extraordinary basilica of Vezelay, and in particular, the superb, often sublime, carving of the capitals in the nave and the great tympanae (if that's the Latin plural). In that the book serves excellently. Having visited Vezelay once with a specialist, small group on an architectural tour of Burgundy, I was moved to return on my own, and for that I took this book. It repaid the advance reading, and was most helpful in illuminating the complex symbolism and iconography of mediaeval Christian art. That the tone of the text is rather pedestrian was largely irrelevant to me. On another level, the book is also a splendid compendium of photographs of the capitals. Believe me, these capitals alone are worth a trip to France; if you do go, you will find this a delightful book both before your trip and after you return, stunned by what you have seen. And if you are in Vezelay, make sure you also visit the cathedral at Autun, an hour or so away . . .

Rating:
Summary: A Second Opinion
Review: Mr Fleming's review is something of an academic exercise; useful, but directed at a scholarly minority. I bought this book to help me appreciate the extraordinary basilica of Vezelay, and in particular, the superb, often sublime, carving of the capitals in the nave and the great tympanae (if that's the Latin plural). In that the book serves excellently. Having visited Vezelay once with a specialist, small group on an architectural tour of Burgundy, I was moved to return on my own, and for that I took this book. It repaid the advance reading, and was most helpful in illuminating the complex symbolism and iconography of mediaeval Christian art. That the tone of the text is rather pedestrian was largely irrelevant to me. On another level, the book is also a splendid compendium of photographs of the capitals. Believe me, these capitals alone are worth a trip to France; if you do go, you will find this a delightful book both before your trip and after you return, stunned by what you have seen. And if you are in Vezelay, make sure you also visit the cathedral at Autun, an hour or so away . . .

Rating:
Summary: The Essential Vezelay
Review: This book makes a superb introduction and provides a nice addition to available works for one of the best known monuments of French Romanesque art. Although the reason to buy the book is for its photographic documentation, the text by Veronique Rochon-Mouilleron, translated from French, is a straightforward, scholarly description of the iconographic subjects and themes of the great church. And certainly without this help few of us could comprehend the monument to any meaningful or serious degree. With only four pages placing the building in historic context and two pages on its architecture, the text, nevertheless, provides a very accessible description of the famous tympanum and the fascinating sculpture of the nave capitals. The language is jargon free but follows a traditional art historical method of careful description and subject identification. Although virtually no words are devoted to aesthetics, technique, and artistic origins and influences, the iconographic descriptions are informative, direct and authoritative. The typanum is designed around several cohesive and interrelated themes; however, scholars agree that the capitals at Vezelay do not seem to be selected and placed following a single unifying program. Consequently the author's organization of her presentation around several sub-themes in the nave such as "Demonic Variation," "Human Justice, Divine Justice," and the "Reign of God," leads to intelligent comparisons. The writing makes for an easy read and could, in fact, stand alone. Daniel Faure's photographs provide a visual experience that can't be had by standing on the floor of the church with even the best set of binoculars. His dramatic lighting and informed eye for detail make these plates not only attractive in themselves but qualify them as among the best records of the subject in general publication. The details of the drapery of Christ's tunic and a wonderful sequence of the books held by the Apostles are alone worth the price of admission. Purists may quibble that the effect is not natural for the setting, but monochromatic stone is best read in terms of light and dark, and here the photographer's manipulations do in fact enhance our enjoyment and comprehension of the work. The layout of this book is somewhat novel in its references to more contemporary modes of visual presentation. For example a two page spread will have the tympanum held in dark background while a particular compartment is highlighted with the related text displayed light on dark in the center of the page. This makes for a busy design but does help us follow the artistic narrative. Similarly the section on the capitals is laid out over spreads of the ground plan of the church as a dark background with highlighted location numbers and individual shots of the sculptures. To make this work some of the insets seem arbitrarily cut, but it is more than compensated for by the large-scale images of details on subsequent pages. One small annoyance in this section is that the text refers to page numbers for additional views, but many of the pages are unnumbered, no doubt to preserve the integrity of the plates. The text is presented without footnotes, and although the Bibliography is slim, it does in fact list the essentials for additional reading.

Rating:
Summary: The Essential Vezelay
Review: This book makes a superb introduction and provides a nice addition to available works for one of the best known monuments of French Romanesque art. Although the reason to buy the book is for its photographic documentation, the text by Veronique Rochon-Mouilleron, translated from French, is a straightforward, scholarly description of the iconographic subjects and themes of the great church. And certainly without this help few of us could comprehend the monument to any meaningful or serious degree. With only four pages placing the building in historic context and two pages on its architecture, the text, nevertheless, provides a very accessible description of the famous tympanum and the fascinating sculpture of the nave capitals. The language is jargon free but follows a traditional art historical method of careful description and subject identification. Although virtually no words are devoted to aesthetics, technique, and artistic origins and influences, the iconographic descriptions are informative, direct and authoritative. The typanum is designed around several cohesive and interrelated themes; however, scholars agree that the capitals at Vezelay do not seem to be selected and placed following a single unifying program. Consequently the author's organization of her presentation around several sub-themes in the nave such as "Demonic Variation," "Human Justice, Divine Justice," and the "Reign of God," leads to intelligent comparisons. The writing makes for an easy read and could, in fact, stand alone. Daniel Faure's photographs provide a visual experience that can't be had by standing on the floor of the church with even the best set of binoculars. His dramatic lighting and informed eye for detail make these plates not only attractive in themselves but qualify them as among the best records of the subject in general publication. The details of the drapery of Christ's tunic and a wonderful sequence of the books held by the Apostles are alone worth the price of admission. Purists may quibble that the effect is not natural for the setting, but monochromatic stone is best read in terms of light and dark, and here the photographer's manipulations do in fact enhance our enjoyment and comprehension of the work. The layout of this book is somewhat novel in its references to more contemporary modes of visual presentation. For example a two page spread will have the tympanum held in dark background while a particular compartment is highlighted with the related text displayed light on dark in the center of the page. This makes for a busy design but does help us follow the artistic narrative. Similarly the section on the capitals is laid out over spreads of the ground plan of the church as a dark background with highlighted location numbers and individual shots of the sculptures. To make this work some of the insets seem arbitrarily cut, but it is more than compensated for by the large-scale images of details on subsequent pages. One small annoyance in this section is that the text refers to page numbers for additional views, but many of the pages are unnumbered, no doubt to preserve the integrity of the plates. The text is presented without footnotes, and although the Bibliography is slim, it does in fact list the essentials for additional reading.