Parution : Brigitte Buettner, « The Mineral and the Visual. Precious Stones in Medieval Secular Culture », Pennsylvanie, Penn State University Press, 2022
Opulent jeweled objects ranked among the most highly valued works of art in the European Middle Ages. At the same time, precious stones prompted sophisticated reflections on the power of nature and the experience of mineralized beings. Beyond a visual regime that put a premium on brilliant materiality, how can we account for the ubiquity of gems in medieval thought? In The Mineral and the Visual, art historian Brigitte Buettner examines the social roles, cultural...