The Decorated Style: Architecture and Ornament, 1240-1360

Coldstream, Nicola

ISBN 10: 0714117234 / ISBN 13: 9780714117232

Published by British Museum Press, 1994

About this Item

Seller Inventory # mon0000065537

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Decorated Style: Architecture and Ornament, 1240-1360
• Publisher: British Museum Press
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0714117234
• ISBN 13: 9780714117232
• Binding: hardcover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Includes dust jacket.

About this title

Synopsis

English Decorated Style flourished from the mid-13th-century in the reign of Henry III to the mid-14th under his great grandson Edward III. Although it is usually portrayed purely as a style of architecture, this style is better understood as a fusion of architecture and ornament - paint, stained glass and sculpture - which creates specific effects. The style was one of display, created primarily for churches and the Christian message of salvation, but secular elements - chivalry and heraldry - were important in its appearance. Intended to enable a congregation to realise the mystical experience of God and the saints, Decorated is illusionistic and transcendental, representing the kingdom of heaven in an earthly setting. As many of its ornamental features were destroyed in the Reformation and later, the style can be difficult to comprehend. This book examines the style not only as an architectural phenomenon, but in the context of contemporary spiritual and secular attitudes and liturgical and political developments. It also discusses the complementary roles of craftsmen and patrons.