The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture

Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Wu
2012
204 pages
200 illustrations
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Home to an extraordinary collection of treasured masterworks, including the famed Unicorn Tapestries, The Cloisters is devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. This splendid guide, published to celebrate The Cloisters' seventy-fifth anniversary, richly illustrates and describes the most important highlights of its collection, from paintings, illuminated manuscripts, and exquisitely carved sculptures to monumental architecture evocative of the grand religious spaces and domestic interiors of the Middle Ages. The Cloisters remains a testament to design innovation—a New York City landmark with sweeping views of the Hudson River—featuring original elements of Romanesque and Gothic architecture dating from the twelfth through the fifteenth century. These meditative spaces, including three beautiful gardens cultivated with species known from tapestries, medieval herbals, and other historic sources, combine artistic masterpieces with fragrant plantings and open vistas, offering visitors an oasis of serenity and inspiration—an experience that this book encapsulates and enhances.

Plaque with Saint John the Evangelist, Elephant ivory, Carolingian
Carolingian
early 9th century
Plaque with Scenes at Emmaus, Elephant ivory, Carolingian
Carolingian
ca. 850–900
Bursa Reliquary, Bone, paint, copper gilt, iron brads, and sycamore wood, North Italian
North Italian
10th century
Plaque with the Holy Women at the Sepulchre, Elephant ivory, North Italian
North Italian
early 10th century
Ring, Gold with cloisonné enamel, German
German
10th–11th century
Pyxis, Elephant ivory, Spanish
Spanish
ca. 950–75
Panel with San Millán, Master Engelram and his son Redolfo  Spanish, Elephant ivory, with glass inlay, Spanish
Master Engelram and his son Redolfo
1060–80
Cuxa Cloister, Marble, Catalan
Catalan
ca. 1130–40
Arch with Beasts, Marble, French
French
ca. 1150–75
Angel, Limestone, French
French
ca. 1130
Enthroned Virgin and Child, Birch with paint and glass, French
French
ca. 1130–1140
Enthroned Virgin and Child, Walnut with gesso, paint, tin leaf, traces of linen, and possible human remains, French
French
1150–1200
Apse from San Martín at Fuentidueña, Limestone, Spanish
Spanish
ca. 1175–1200
Crucifix, White oak with paint, gold leaf, and tin leaf (corpus); softwood with paint and tin leaf (cross), Spanish
Spanish
ca. 1150–1200
The Virgin and Child in Majesty and the Adoration of the Magi, Master of Pedret  Spanish, Fresco transferred to canvas, Catalan
Master of Pedret
ca. 1100
Leaf from a Beatus Manuscript: the Lamb at the Foot of the Cross, Flanked by Two Angels; The Calling of Saint John with the Enthroned Christ flanked by Angels and a Man Holding a Book, Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment, Spanish
Spanish
ca. 1180
Leaves from a Beatus Manuscript: Bifolium with part of the Genealogy of Christ and the Adoration of the Magi, Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment, Spanish
Spanish
ca. 1180
Leaf from a Beatus Manuscript: Christ in Majesty with Angels and  the Angel of God Directs Saint John to Write the Book of Revelation, Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment, Spanish
Spanish
ca. 1180
Leaf from a Beatus Manuscript: the Angel of the Church of Sardis with Saint John, Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment, Spanish
Spanish
ca. 1180
Leaf from a Beatus Manuscript: the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia with Saint John, Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment, Spanish
Spanish
ca. 1180
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Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. 2012. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. 75th Anniv. ed., rev.Expanded. New York : New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ; Distributed by Yale University Press.