The Visualization of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Edited by Marcia Kupfer Edited by Adam S Cohen Edited by J. H. Chajes

Book cover: The Visualization of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Extent: 520, 520 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Art & Art History, Early Modern & Renaissance Studies, Medieval Studies

Series: Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages

Series volume number: 16

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(September 2020)

ISBN: 9782503583037

Price: $250.00

Out of stock

All of us are exposed to graphic means of communication on a daily basis. Our life seems flooded with lists, tables, charts, diagrams, models, maps, and forms of notation. Although we now take such devices for granted, their role in the codification and transmission of knowledge evolved within historical contexts where they performed particular tasks. The medieval and early modern periods stand as a formative era during which visual structures, both mental and material, increasingly shaped and systematized knowledge. Yet these periods have been sidelined as theorists interested in the epistemic potential of visual strategies have privileged the modern natural sciences. This volume expands the field of research by focusing on the relationship between the arts of memory and modes of graphic mediation through the sixteenth century. Chapters encompass Christian (Greek as well as Latin) production, Jewish (Hebrew) traditions, and the transfer of Arabic learning. The linked essays anthologized here consider the generative power of schemata, cartographic representation, and even the layout of text: more than merely compiling information, visual arrangements formalize abstract concepts, provide grids through which to process data, set in motion analytic operations that give rise to new ideas, and create interpretive frameworks for understanding the world.

  • Edited by Marcia Kupfer
  • Edited by Adam S Cohen
  • Edited by J. H. Chajes