Now Reading ... Those Terrible Middle Ages!
Published in French 25 years ago and republished in English for the first time this year. In it, Regine Pernoud argues that thinkers and artists of the Middle Ages never "lost" the knowledge of Classical art and thought, and not only preserved, but used the knowledge of the Classical thinkers and artists, viewing this material as a set of tools to use to achieve new styles and visions. It was a slavish devotion to copying Classical styles exactly that led Renaissance thinkers to believe these styles had been forgotten. This was because, from their point of view, the highest possible expressions of beauty and wisdom had been achieved in the Classical period. If these weren’t perfectly replicated in the great works of subsequent periods, those periods must have lost or forgotten them. For this reason Renaissance thinkers created the false idea still subscribed to today ... that the Middle Ages were "dark".
Published in French 25 years ago and republished in English for the first time this year. In it, Regine Pernoud argues that thinkers and artists of the Middle Ages never "lost" the knowledge of Classical art and thought, and not only preserved, but used the knowledge of the Classical thinkers and artists, viewing this material as a set of tools to use to achieve new styles and visions. It was a slavish devotion to copying Classical styles exactly that led Renaissance thinkers to believe these styles had been forgotten. This was because, from their point of view, the highest possible expressions of beauty and wisdom had been achieved in the Classical period. If these weren’t perfectly replicated in the great works of subsequent periods, those periods must have lost or forgotten them. For this reason Renaissance thinkers created the false idea still subscribed to today ... that the Middle Ages were "dark".
<< Home