Art Treasures of Medieval Finland

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ART TREASURES OF MEDIEVAL FINLAND
Photographs hy István Rácz Introduction and Notes on Illustrations by Riitta Pylkkänen
Although some of the finest examples of medieval religious and secular sculpture, stone carvings, and murals to be found in Europe are in Finland, the art of medieval Finland is largely unknown outside that country. Rich and varied, this art rivals the greatest works produced on the Continent, and its most beautiful treasures are still to be seen in the medieval churches scattered throughout southwestern Finland.
In ART TREASURES OF MEDIEVAL FINLAND, the distinguished photographer István Rácz presents a unique survey of these treasures —and of many of the churches that house them. The book encompasses masterpieces from the early wooden churches erected after the first crusadc into Finland in 1155, the stone Romanesque... Tovább

Fülszöveg

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ART TREASURES OF MEDIEVAL FINLAND
Photographs hy István Rácz Introduction and Notes on Illustrations by Riitta Pylkkänen
Although some of the finest examples of medieval religious and secular sculpture, stone carvings, and murals to be found in Europe are in Finland, the art of medieval Finland is largely unknown outside that country. Rich and varied, this art rivals the greatest works produced on the Continent, and its most beautiful treasures are still to be seen in the medieval churches scattered throughout southwestern Finland.
In ART TREASURES OF MEDIEVAL FINLAND, the distinguished photographer István Rácz presents a unique survey of these treasures —and of many of the churches that house them. The book encompasses masterpieces from the early wooden churches erected after the first crusadc into Finland in 1155, the stone Romanesque churches that appeared later, the Gothic Turku Cathedral — one of the greatest achievements in Finnish medieval church architecture—and a Brigittine convent and Franciscan monastery of the mid-fifteenth century.
There are vault paintings, reredos, and carved wooden statues, reflecting the influence of the great masters of nearby Lübeck and Danzig, and churches constructed with the help of master builders from the Baltic countries. The thirteenth-century St. Nicholas Church in Inkoo — the oldest stone church on the Finnish mainland — has vault paintings showing scenes from the Bible and the only known representation in Finland of the stark and beautiful «Dance of Death,» a popular theme in the Hanseatic art of the Baltic lands and northern Germany.
Dr. Riitta Pylkkänen's introduction and informative notes to the illustrations provide a historical setting and scholarly documentation for Mr. Rácz's superb photographs, which range from the glistening lattice in the Tavast choir at Turku to the stark grandeur of the unadorned Hauho Church vaults, from a gold and silk embroidered chalice cloth from the workshop of the famous pearl embroiderer and church painter Albertus Pictor to the childlike ornamentation in Espoo Church, with its legends of the devil.
This beautiful book offers a rare opportunity to view the splendors and beauty of Finland's medieval art—an art too long neglected—through the eyes of a master photographer.
THE PHOTOGRAPHER: The eminent free-lance photographer István Rácz was born in Hungary and received a Master's Degree from the University of Budapest. After World War II he went to Finland, where he stayed until i960. He is now a Swiss citizen. His other books on Finland include Colorful Finland and Early Finnish Art: From Prehistory to the Middle Ages. Vissza