ARTS AND LITERATURE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

In addition to eye-catching visuals on every page (all fully captioned), the book features timelines, maps, and numerous fact boxes. Main subjects are divided into 14 two-page spreads with artwork and decorative borders attractively arranged around text passages. Subtitles add focus and glossary terms are printed in boldface. Topics include the cathedrals created during the Romanesque and Gothic periods of art; sculptures from around the world including West African brass, ivory, and bronze sculptures, animal carvings from the Arctic, and the totem poles in the northwestern forests; the influence of Giotto di Bondone’s frescoes, wood-panel paintings, and mosaics on later generations; the stories from the Bible and of holy men and women depicted in the mosaics created by Byzantine artists; and poems from the Tang Dynasty, and the literary contributions of famous writers such as Dante Alighieri, Li Po, Omar Khayyam, and Christine de Pisan, one of the few female authors of the Middle Ages.