Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1 John’s Apocalypse and Its Interpretation
2 The First Illustrated Apocalypses
3 Beatus Apocalypses and Spanish Monasticism
4 The Apocalypse Allegorized, Moralized, and Historicized
5 The Epitome of Apocalypse Illustration: The Anglo-French Tradition
6 The Apocalypse at the End of the Middle Ages
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Manuscripts
Index of Biblical References
General Index
Richard K. Emmerson is Visiting Distinguished Professor of Art History at Florida State University and Dean Emeritus of Liberal Arts, Manhattan College. He is the author of Antichrist in the Middle Ages: A Study of Medieval Apocalypticism, Art, and Literature, coauthor of The Apocalyptic Imagination in Medieval Literature, and coeditor of The Apocalypse in the Middle Ages.
“Emmerson’s wide-reaching analysis of Apocalypse illuminations
achieves a successful balance between focusing on individual books
and situating them within their historical contexts. Handsomely
produced, it will interest all who are drawn to these stunningly
beautiful illuminated books of scripture.”—Renana Bartal
Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture
“Lavishly adorned with photographs of noteworthy Apocalypses
selected from the most important, interesting, and influential
illustrative traditions, the book focuses on recurring apocalyptic
patterns, events, figures, and motifs that characterize medieval
Apocalypse illustrations, in order to substantiate historical and
stylistic comparisons, trace iconographic continuities over time,
and highlight innovative features.”—New Testament Abstracts
“In this graciously, colorfully illustrated book, Emmerson sums up
decades of research on Revelation in medieval art to provide a
sweeping overview of St. John’s Apocalypse manuscripts from the
ninth-century Carolingian Renaissance to the cusp of the printing
press.”—Jonathan Homrighausen Theological Studies
“[I]t is his sympathetic grasp of how the images function, grounded
in an extensive knowledge of the manuscripts and the subtle nuances
of medieval exegetical traditions, which makes this book so
compelling. Readers will find in Emmerson a trustworthy and
illuminating guide, like the interpreting angel of John’s
Apocalypse or the ever present figure of John himself.”—Ian Boxall
Review of Biblical Literature
“Just as Virgil led Dante through the underworld, so too Richard
Emmerson guides his readers through the visionary landscape of
medieval Apocalypse illustration from its early medieval origins
right through to the Reformation. One could ask for no better
guide. The culmination of a career dedicated to the expert
examination of the Book of Revelation and its immeasurable impact
on medieval culture, Emmerson’s book provides a confident overview
peppered with penetrating insights.”—Jeffrey F. Hamburger, author
of St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and
Theology.
“A tour de force of scholarship that brings together manuscript
studies, art history, literary studies, and the history of
apocalyptic theology in a compelling and readable summary of the
history of medieval illustrations of the Book of Revelation. This
is a paradigmatic example of the interdisciplinary approach that is
so often praised and so seldom really practiced.”—Bernard McGinn,
author of The Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth
Century
“This splendid study, the product of a lifetime of novel research,
refocuses the discourse on historical apocalypticism. Richard
Emmerson demonstrates that medieval illustration of this most
visual and sensorial of biblical texts was an exegetical act.
Rather than a product of passing, prognostic impulses, the
illuminated Book of Revelation is located at the center of medieval
epistemology. The result is a work as rich and compelling as the
subject it explores.”—Richard A. Leson, University of
Wisconsin–Milwaukee
“If I may follow medieval exegetes in seeking meaning beneath
surface content, I would suggest that this book’s most profound
contribution lies less in its elucidation of medieval Apocalypse
manuscripts (though it does that beautifully) than in its
revelation of pictorial art’s capacity to exceed its textual
referents—to comment on, redirect, defy, sharpen, expand,
transform, in short, to illuminate the words that join it. In this
sense it is essential reading not just for art historians but for
anyone interested in medieval techniques of
communication.”—Jacqueline E. Jung Speculum
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