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List of illustrations

  • Modena cathedral, west façade
  • God at the Creation of the World, detail of Christ Logos, Modena cathedral, west façade
  • God at the Creation of the World, detail demonstrating the oblique, downward angle at which Christ Logos is positioned. Modena cathedral, west façade
  • Christ in Majesty
  • Christ in Majesty, detail from oblique line of sight
  • Christ in Majesty, detail from standpoint of direct observation
  • Abbey church of San Zeno, Verona, west façade
  • St. Zeno Trampling the Dragon Accompanied by Soldiers
  • St. Zeno Trampling the Dragon Accompanied by Soldiers, detail demonstrating the principle of occlusion
  • St. Zeno Trampling the Dragon Accompanied by Soldiers, detail demonstrating the interdependence of figure and surface
  • Diagram of the parts of the eye
  • Schematic diagram of the parts of the eye according to Galen
  • Diagram of the internal senses and the movement of the soul, and drawing of the five senses in relationship to cognition
  • Drawing of the relationship between vision and cognition
  • Deliberation over revealing St. Geminianus’ relics and Verification of St. Geminianus’ relics
  • Modena cathedral, west façade
  • Aerial view of Modena’s urban core looking north
  • Plan of Modena cathedral
  • Relief panel of Enoch and Elijah with inscription
  • Modena cathedral, west facade. Detail of central portal and protiro
  • Modena cathedral, south facade. Detail of south portal (Porta dei Principi) and protiro
  • Original spatial layout of reliefs, Modena cathedral, west facade
  • Genesis Panel 1: God Appearing at the Creation; the Creation of Adam; the Creation of Eve; the Fall of Humankind
  • Genesis Panel 2: God Rebukes Adam and Eve; the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden; Adam and Eve Tilling the Earth
  • Genesis Panel 3: The Sacrifice of Cain and Abel; the Death of Abel; the Curse of Cain
  • Genesis Panel 4: Death of Cain by Lamech; the Deluge and Noah’s Ark; Noah and His Sons Leave the Ark
  • Perspective layout of relief panels and visual angle, Modena cathedral, west facade
  • Map of northern Italy. The road running northwest from ForlÌ to Piacenza, passing through Modena, approximates the ancient Via Aemilia
  • Sant’Abbondio, Como, west facade
  • Parma cathedral, west facade
  • Creation scenes from the book of Genesis in the Todi Bible
  • Creation scenes, including the Death of Cain by Lamech, in the Roda Bible (Biblia Sancti Petri Rodensis)
  • Adam and Eve at the Tree of Knowledge
  • Death of Abel
  • Death of Cain
  • Trumeau
  • Adoration of the Magi
  • Birth of Eve, detail of Adam
  • Death of Abel, detail of Cain’s weapon
  • Death of Abel
  • Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, detail of Adam and Eve
  • Deluge and Noah and His Sons Leave the Ark
  • St. John the Baptist in axial relation to St. Geminianus’ boat journey
  • Fidenza cathedral, west facade
  • St. Simon holding scroll indicating the way to Rome
  • King David
  • Ezekiel
  • Relief of Pilgrims, detail
  • St. George Killing the Dragon and lintel sculptures
  • Christ in Majesty
  • SS. Pietro ed Orso, Aosta, general view of cloister
  • Dream of Joseph, detail, angel pointing to Joseph
  • Dream of Joseph, detail, Joseph sleeping
  • Flight into Egypt, detail, Joseph leading donkey
  • Flight into Egypt, detail, Virgin and Child
  • Nativity, detail, Joseph’s gaze
  • Christ Logos
  • Birth of Eve, detail of Adam
  • Adam and Eve, detail, eating the fruit
  • Lamech, detail
  • Head of a lion
  • Ferrara cathedral, west facade
  • Virgin and Child
  • Madonna of Presbyter Martinus
  • Christ the Redeemer
  • Christ the Redeemer, detail demonstrating levels of relief and optical refinements
  • Last Supper
  • The Last Supper
  • View of Ferrara cathedral and surrounding clerical and communal buildings
  • Christ Trampling the Devil
  • Reconstruction of original west façade, Ferrara cathedral
  • St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Baptist
  • Annunciation, spanning the portal: Gabriel in left jamb, Mary in right jamb
  • Head of Madonna (of the Annunciation), mosaic
  • Left jamb figures: Gabriel, Jeremiah, and Daniel
  • Right jamb figures: Mary, Isaiah, and Ezekiel
  • Drawing of Ferrara cathedral’s original foundation
  • Photograph of 1924 excavation of the cathedral’s foundation
  • Photograph taken by the Alinari firm of the cathedral before the 1924 excavation
  • Photograph taken by author demonstrating the post-excavation differences in the Piazetta di S. Giorgio
  • St. George Killing the Dragon seen at a 45-degree visual angle
  • St. George Killing the Dragon, detail demonstrating degree of depth carving and the principle of occlusion
  • Protiro, Ferrara cathedral
  • St. George Killing the Dragon seen at a 45-degree visual angle
  • St. George Killing the Dragon, photograph taken from a direct line of sight from scaffolding.
  • Schematic diagram of space-box and 16th-century plan demonstrating module used for interior design
  • St. George Killing the Dragon and lintel sculptures
  • Stained-glass window of St. Cheron, detail of sculptors at work
  • Quattro Santi Coronati, detail of lintel showing sculptors at work
  • De geometria
  • Astronomical Miscellany
  • Space-box elevation demonstrating angles of vision at (about) 17 feet from portal
  • Ideal view of St. George Killing the Dragon
  • St. George Killing the Dragon
  • Christ Trampling the Beast
  • St. George Killing the Dragon
  • St. George Killing the Dragon
  • St. George Killing the Dragon
  • St. George Killing the Dragon
  • St. George Killing the Dragon
  • Adoration of the Magi, and Annunciation figures at each end of the lintel
  • The Annunciation
  • Telamon
  • Protiro
  • Plan of San Zeno demonstrating the module used for the interior design
  • St. Zeno Trampling the Dragon Accompanied by Soldiers
  • St. Zeno Trampling the Dragon
  • Prophet Daniel, left jamb
  • Vincentius, Dionysius, Rusticus, and St. George
  • Miriam, Sister of Moses
  • Virgin and Child
  • Pulpit, Pisa baptistery
  • Adoration of the Magi, panel from Pisa baptistery pulpit
  • Nativity and Adoration of the Magi
  • Adoration of the Magi
  • Medallion relief of a mermaid (i.e., lust)
  • Verona cathedral, west facade
  • Verona cathedral, west facade
  • Diagram of eye detailing the relationship between the eyes, the optic nerve, and the brain
  • Schematic diagram of the eye detailing Alhacen’s theory of light emission (intromission)
  • Tympanum and jambs with Gabriel (left) and Mary (right)
  • Pulpit
  • Dream of the Magi, Arrival and Adoration of the Magi, and Dream of Joseph
  • Adoration of the Magi, detail
  • Massacre of the Innocents, detail
  • Pope Boniface VIII
  • Tomb of Cardinale de Braye
  • Tomb of Cardinale de Braye, detail, figure of Cardinal de Braye from an oblique perspective
  • Injustice, in raking light showing relief in raking light showing relief
  • Last Judgment, detail of Choir of Angels
  • Chiarito Tabernacle
  • Chiarito Tabernacle, viewed with raking light
  • Adoration of the Magi
  • Adoration of the Magi, detail showing gilt, raised relief
  • Tomb slab of Leonardo Dati (1425–27)
Free
Description: Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
Contents
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00109.001
Free
Description: Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
Acknowledgments
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00109.002
Free
Description: Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
Abbreviations
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00109.003
Description: Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
In a 1998 interview for the journal October, Hubert Damisch made a poignant claim that if we are to assume that perspective has an origin, then we should be able to track its development over time. We could trace perspective through historical stratifications of “perceptual” and “sensory” knowledge, and through permutations of the phenomenal relationships between...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.1-18
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00109.004

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Description: Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
In a poem, Carmen 27, dated January 403 CE, Paulinus of Nola detailed the experience of a beholder as he or she...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.19-38
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00109.005
Chapter subject tags:VisionAugustinian artTheology

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Description: Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
In this way, if I were to tell you many things about elephants, you would not know what an elephant is, unless you were to see him; thus, we may read many things about David...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.39-77
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00109.006

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Description: Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
On January 3, 1117, a series of massive earthquakes ripped...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.78-119
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00109.007

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Description: Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
The passage cited in the epigraph describes a series of relations between observers and objects in terms of a set of sightlines. The author—thought until the fifteenth century to have been Cicero—investigated what I call “optical aesthetics,” articulations of visible...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.120-150
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00109.008

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Description: Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
Throughout this book, I have been elucidating the notion that relief space forms a critical hinge in artistic representation, attaching the illusionistic space associated with painting to the actual, material space of sculpture. Because relief sculpture engages two modes of space simultaneously, two-dimensional and three-dimensional, it occupied a...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.151-170
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00109.009

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Free
Description: Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
Bibliography
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00109.010
Free
Description: Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
Illustration Credits
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00109.011
Free
Description: Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
Index
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00109.012
Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics, and the Rise of Perspective in Medieval Italy
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