Publication
Pustet, c2013
Status
Available
User reviews
LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne
Whatever the title says, this book is mostly about how Mary Magdalene was portrayed as wearing in late medieval art. The first impression is that the book is well-illustrated. On reading it quickly becomes clear that the pictures are often distributed rather randomly. Sometimes a page number is
Nor is it always clear which picture is being refered to. The author moves to related pictures and back to the first-mentioned without this being totally clear. Although she shows in one chapter that she is aware of the various New Testament Marys in one chapter, when discussing the pictures she is not careful of her language, and mixes them up as cheerfully as the artists do.
In the end this reads as a dissertation that has been expanded for publication. The additions and the original text are not well integrated. Although I think she knows what she is talking about, and there is a lot of good information here, she is not good at conveying her information to others. In this particular case, where she is working on the borders of (at least) three different areas, her communication skills are not up to the job of bringing the information from each area through to those whose competance lies in one of the other areas. With hindsight, I would recommend leaving the chapter 'vestimentum fecit narrationem' for last and to get access to larger scale reproducions at least of the major works by Rogier van der Weyden before reading.
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given for the picture refered to (and usually the page number is right!) but if you finally find the picture, usually it is too small to really show the details refered to.Nor is it always clear which picture is being refered to. The author moves to related pictures and back to the first-mentioned without this being totally clear. Although she shows in one chapter that she is aware of the various New Testament Marys in one chapter, when discussing the pictures she is not careful of her language, and mixes them up as cheerfully as the artists do.
In the end this reads as a dissertation that has been expanded for publication. The additions and the original text are not well integrated. Although I think she knows what she is talking about, and there is a lot of good information here, she is not good at conveying her information to others. In this particular case, where she is working on the borders of (at least) three different areas, her communication skills are not up to the job of bringing the information from each area through to those whose competance lies in one of the other areas. With hindsight, I would recommend leaving the chapter 'vestimentum fecit narrationem' for last and to get access to larger scale reproducions at least of the major works by Rogier van der Weyden before reading.
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Language
Original language
German
ISBN
9783702506803