Publication details
Minor Arts Becoming Major : The Classical in Dialogue with the Non-Classical at the Originsof the Art of Stained Glass
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Peer-reviewed scientific article |
| Magazine / Source | Codex Aquilarensis |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://www.romanicodigital.com/sites/default/files/2025-05/C%2040-2_Alberto%20Virdis_0.pdf |
| Doi | https://doi.org/10.61023/codexaq.2024.40.002 |
| Keywords | early medieval aesthetics; stained glass; enamels; cloisonné jewels; jeweled style |
| Description | The distinction between “major” and “minor” arts has its source within Renaissance humanism. In the fifteenth century, Filarete identified the decadence of the architecture of his time in the transalpine trend of building monuments in the form of thuribles and tabernacles, imitating the works of goldsmiths on a larger scale. Therefore, since their first delineation “minor arts” have included goldsmithing and other related art forms. Despite its monumental dimensions, stained glass soon joined this category in the post-medieval literature on art. As confirmed by recent research, the aesthetics and techniques of the arts of goldsmithing, enameling, and stained glass turned out to be deeply intertwined. This article investigates the artistic intersections that underpinned the emergence of stained-glass windows in the early Middle Ages, focusing on key aspects such as changes in scale and the tension between continuity and rupture in classical and non-classical traditions, characteristic of the long late Antiquity up to the beginning of the Carolingian Renaissance. |
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