The Agency of Things in Medieval and Early Modern Art: Materials, Power and Manipulation
ISBN: 9781315166940
Platform/Publisher: Taylor & Francis / Routledge
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited



This volume explores the late medieval and early modern periods from the perspective of objects. While the agency of things has been studied in anthropology and archaeology, it is an innovative approach for art historical investigations. Each contributor takes as a point of departure active things: objects that were collected, exchanged, held in hand, carried on a body, assembled, cared for or pawned. Through a series of case studies set in various geographic locations, this volume examines a rich variety of systems throughout Europe and beyond.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/doi/view/10.4324/9781315401867, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license


Grażyna Jurkowlaniec (PhD 2000, habilitation 2009) is assistant Professor at the Institute of Art History at the University of Warsaw. She specializes in art and artistic patronage between the thirteenth and sixteenth century in Europe. She has published in Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte , Konsthistorisk tidskrift and Artibus et Historiae .

Ika Matyjaszkiewicz (PhD candidate at the University of Warsaw) conducts a project for the Polish National Science Centre Painted Representations of the Volto Santo in the Light of Spatial Studies. Her research focuses on the relationship between the beholder and the work of art. Her publications concern medieval, modern and contemporary art.

Zuzanna Sarnecka (BA Cantab., MA Cantab. and London, PhD) is a lecturer in Art History at the University of Warsaw. Her doctoral thesis at the University of Cambridge focused on the devotional and artistic significance of glazed terracotta sculpture in the Marche. She has published in Artibus et Historiae and Arte Medievale.

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