Check out the Course Reserves

Early Medieval Art, 300-1150; Sources and Documents. / [compiled by] Caecilia Davis-Weyer.
Oversize: N5975 .D3

This anthology collects sources relevant to an understanding of early medieval art: description of lost monuments, theoretical, technical, and other texts that reveal intentions of particular patrons and artists or esthetic attitudes of the literate public. It also contains a number of liturgical texts, describing ritual use of medieval artifacts.

Horn, Walter William and Ernest Born. The Plan of St. Gall: a Study of the Architecture & Economy of & Life in a Aaradigmatic Carolingian Monastery.

(foreword by Wolfgang Braunfels; a translation into English by Charles W. Jones of the Directives of Adalhard, 753-826, the Ninth Abbot of Corbie; and with a note by A. Hunter Dupree on the Significance of the Plan of St. Gall to the history of measurement.)

Special Colletions: BX2659.S32 H67

The Art of the Byzantine Empire, 312-1453;  Sources and Documents. /  [compiled by] Cyril Mango.  Oversize: N6250 .M25

A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811-1057. / John Skylitzes ; introd., text and notes translated by John Wortley. Bookstacks: DF553 .S36 2010

Gothic Art 1140-c. 1450; Sources and Documents. / [compiled by]Teresa G. Frisch. Oversize: N6310 .F7 1987

Inventory of the Historical Monuments in London. [DA675 .A3]

Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England). Some plates printed on both sides.

v. 1. Westminster Abbey -- v. 2. West London -- v. 3. Roman London -- v. 4. The City -- v. 5. East London.

A. Use Library Catalogs to find books

1. Tufts Libraries Catalog

2. WorldCat (beyond Tufts)

B. Searches & Results

(note the search pattern; modify to your own needs)

1. Include the site/geographical location in your search for a building or buildings, e.g.

"San Marco" and Venice

Maclou and Rouen (St Maclou in Amiens, France)

 

2. Broaden your search from specific buildings/sites to types of buildings/site, so as to find monographs on your building and/or a chapter on your building in thematic studies. For examples:

Keyword search: "Notre Dame" and Amiens and architecture

Notre Dame, Cathedral of Amiens: the Power of Change in Gothic by Stephen Murray.

Subject search: Architecture, Gothic

Artistic Integration in Gothic Buildings. edited by Virginia Chieffo Raguin, Kathryn Brush, Peter Draper.

3. Focus on specific architectural features:

Decoration and ornament architectural
Decoration and ornament, Gothic

"stained glass" and (church* or cathedral*)

sculpt* and (church or cathedral or monast*) and medieval

If the sculpture, Luxuria in the Abbaye St-Pierre de Moissac interests you; explore all possible angles such as:

a. the symbolic significance of the animals, especially toads and snakes, e.g.,

grotesque* and art and medieval.

Or, medieval and art and (animal* or beast*)

b. compare with tamer luxuria images in Last Judgment scenes, as in the tympani of St. Foy and Santiago de Compostela, e.g.

sculptur* and "Santiago de Compostela"

c. contextualize the work within the larger sculptural program of the cathedral, e.g.,

Pierre and Moissac

d. themes in course

architects and builders

architects and patrons

Tips: include "and" in between keywords; "or" and ( ) to nest related/varied expressions; sculpt* searches for sculpture, sculptural, etc..

 

4. Broader scope on the buildings type, style, and period:

Architecture, Gothic

Architecture, medieval

Cathedrals

church architecture

Path of Discovery in the Catalogs

1. Find a title/author (assigned readings/Course Reserves);

2. Note the descriptive language of the Catalog record.

3. Use that language in further searches

e.g. Click on subject/author in the record to see further results and related topics.

Believing and Seeing: the Art of Gothic Cathedrals. / Roland Recht; translated by Mary Whittall.
. Oversize: N6310 .R4313 2008  

Medieval Architecture. / Nicola Coldstream. Oversize: NA350 .C65 2002

Architecture and Language: Constructing Identity in European Architecture, c. 1000-c. 1650. / edited by Georgia Clarke, Paul Crossley. Oversize: NA2543.L34 A73 2000

Great Cathedrals. / Bernhard Schütz ; with photographs by Albert Hirmer, Florian Monheim, Joseph Martin ; [translated from the German by Translate-A-Book]. Oversize: NA5453 .S39 2002

Medieval Architecture, Medieval Learning: Builders and Masters in the Age of Romanesque and Gothic. / Charles M. Radding and William W. Clark. Oversize: NA390 .R33 1992

The Cathedral Builders. / by Jean Gimpel ; translated by Teresa Waugh. Oversize: NA4830 .G5313 1984

Cathedrals of Europe. / Anne Prache. Oversize: NA4830 .P6813 2000

Cathedrals of the World. / text by Graziella Leyla Ciagà. Oversize: NA4830 .C53 2006

Building the Great Cathedrals. / François Icher ; translated from the French by Anthony Zielonka. Oversize: NA4830 .I2713 1998

The Gothic Enterprise: a Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral / Robert A. Scott. Oversize: NA440 .S425 2003

Subjects and Symbols in Art

Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art. N7560 .H34 2008
Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography. N7560 .E53 1998
Dictionary of Symbols in Western Art. N7740 .C29 1995
The Dent Dictionary of Symbols in Christian Art. N7825 .S68 1994
Symbolism in Liturgical Art. N7825 .A7

A. Use Subject Databases for Journal Articles:

1 & 2. JSTOR and Project Muse

JSTOR is a favorite with its full texts in core journals of all disciplines. Project Muse does not include exactly the same JSTOR journals, but it has more recent and current articles on many topics.

 

3. Period Studies

International Medieval Bibliography (400-1500).

Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400 -1700).

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

 

4. International Bibliography of Art & Architecture (the Avery Index)

 

5. History, Religion, and Women's Studies

 

6. When use GoogleScholar, set your Library Links to access Tufts full texts.

B. Develop Your Search

If your initial interest is about “Great Mosque at Cordoba”, expand your scope or focus your topic as needed:

1. Start with a simple keyword search:

Mosque and Cordoba

2. Explore the broader context: the architecture of mosques in Spain or in Spanish style:

Mosque* and architect* and (spain or spanish)

3. The Great Mosque at Cordoba (Spain) represents a synthesis of cultures, architectural styles and religious iconography, so explore the interaction of Muslims/Islam and the Christians/Christianity:

Mosque* and christian* and (spain or spanish)

 

 

Note:

1. include "and" in between keywords;

2. "or" and ( ) to nest related/varied expressions;

3. architect* for all forms: architect, architecture, architectural, etc.

C. Review Articles

Reviews of recent books and other types of review articles in major journals in a discipline are likely to summarize the current state of research in an area.

Examples of reviews of a Book:

Reeve, Matthew M. "The Formation of English Gothic: Architecture and Identity." Speculum 83:3 (2008), 688-690.

Thurlby, Malcolm. "The Formation of English Gothic: Architecture and Identity." Jounral of the Society of Architectural Historians  66:4 (2007), 527-528.

 

 

A Few Core Journals:

Dumbarton Oaks Papers

Early Medieval Europe

Essays in Medieval Studies

Gesta

Medieval Encounters

Speculum

Studies in Iconography. (Tisch oversize: NX1 .S84)

 

The Art Bulletin.

Art History

D. More Articles like this "perfect" one

How:

Search, in Arts and Humanities Citation Index, for the article you have read.

For example:

Sponsler, Claire. "On the Threshold of the Flamboyant- the 2nd Campaign of Construction of Saint-Urbain, Troyes." CLIO  21: 3 (1992), 265-283.
References: 23 Times Cited: 5

You can, then, look up, in the record, the 23 references that Sponsler cited for her article and, in turn, 5 articles that cited hers. The assumption is that these articles address related issues.

 

Note:

1. Not every single article is cited;
2. Influential authors are cited more often;
3. More recent publications take time to be cited.

1. Click on the button in your search results screen to a window of three sequential options:

a. link to the digital full text when available;

b. link to a Library Catalog search for the print journal;

c. link to ILliad for requesting the article when the above two options are negative.

2. Search for a journal directly here:

a. Tufts Library Catalog (including e-journals)

b. Electronic journals list

c. Use ILliad to request your article, if Tufts does not have your journal.

Set up for your ILliad account

Use ILLiad, our Interlibrary Loan Service, to request articles, books and other materials that are not available at Tufts.

Chicago Style Manual (for citing sources)

RefWorks

ARTstor

More than one million images with contributions from outstanding museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, photo archives, and artists and artists' estates from all over the world.

 

(including SAHARA Project by the Society of Architectural Historians)

 

Great Buildings Collection (from the magazine Architectureweek, a vast collection of current and historical "photographic images, architectural drawings, maps, timelines, 3D building models, commentaties, bibliographies, (and) web links.")

Index of Christian Art (Princeton University)

---

Books and journals with color plates, photographs, and other visuals are excellent sources; these illustrations are usually done professionally and/or are commissioned works serving as the official records of the built works.

 

Courtauld Institute Illustration Archives
Oversize: NA5461 .C75.

More searches:

monuments and pictorial works

cathedral* and pictorial

"stained glass" and (catalog* or exhibition*)

"notre dame" and (photo* or exhibition*)