Iconography: A Checklist of Some Useful Sources for Scholars and Students of Medieval Art and Drama
Compiled by Clifford Davidson
Early Drama, Art, and Music Checklists
Preface
The checklist that is presented here represents a bibliography collected over the course of three decades, at first as a personal project and then in connection with the Early Drama, Art, and Music (EDAM) project which was sponsored by the Medieval Institute of Western Michigan University from 1976 to 2002. In its initial phase, the listing of items treating iconography was developed in order to ascertain the major scholarship in British art that might have relevance to the early drama of England. The focus was then on the York cycle and the visual milieu which surrounded the production of the plays in that city. As the project continued, the listing of iconography was expanded since a bibliography was required for the EDAM handbook, Drama and Art (1977). In its present form, however, the checklist should not be construed as a formal bibliography which attempts to cover all the most vital scholarship. It is a list which has grown, a little like Topsy, as individual entries have been noted on 3x5 cards and included in the “Recent Publications” section in The Early Drama, Art, and Music Review (formerly EDAM Newsletter). Nor, I should add, has it been possible to check the entries for absolute completeness of citation in every case. If errors are found in this list, they should be called to my attention. Nevertheless, since it is a list that has been useful to quite a number of researchers from this country and abroad who have used it at the Early Drama, Art, and Music office over the years, I feel that it can serve as a convenient source of information for both advanced scholars and graduate students.
A word seems necessary concerning the final section of the current checklist. The index of publications issued under the aegis of the EDAM project by Medieval Institute Publications was prepared for the EDAM web site by Timothy Carlsen. Rather than introduce those items dealing with iconography into their appropriate places in the iconographic listing, I have decided that the entire index should be kept intact and reproduced in a separate section. The articles and books in the EDAM Monograph and Reference Series also will provide many additional references to scholarship beyond the items listed in the checklist, as will items in the EDAM Newsletter and its successor, The Early Drama, Art, and Music Review.
In creating the checklist I am indebted to a large number of persons and institutions. Perhaps my greatest debt is to the Warburg Institute library and its remarkable catalogue, but I am also most deeply indebted to the library at my own institution, to the British Library, and to the libraries of the University of Michigan. Occasional visits to other collections such as the library of the Society of Antiquaries, the Bodleian Library, the Cambridge University Library, and the University of Minnesota Library have also been invaluable. Many scholars have submitted references and offprints, and to them I am most grateful.
Clifford Davidson
The checklist of sources for scholars and students of Medieval art and drama is contained in four PDF files, one for each section. Viewing PDF files requires Adobe Acrobat Reader©, which you can download for free. Because these files are large, we recommend that you attempt to view them only if you have a high speed connection.
PART I: ICONOGAPHY
Iconography: Various Topics
Ages of Man
Allegorical
Animals and Birds
Arbor Bonae and Arbor Mala;
Trees of Life; Garden
Astrology/Signs
Castle of Virtue/Siege
Church-Synagogue
Cokaigne
Colors and Color Symbolism
Creed and Pater Noster
Daughters of God
Deadly Sins and Corresponding
Virtues
Death
Fool
Fortune
Fountain of Life
Green Man
Grotesque
Husband-Wife/Erotic Women
Mirrors
Months and Seasons
Music
Nature
Pilgrimage
Plants
Romance
Royal
Senses/Memory
Seven Sacraments
Sponsus/Sponsa
Time
Wild Men/Satyrs
Miscellaneous Topics
Biblical Iconography
Fall of Lucifer
Hell
Old Testament Topics
Fall/Adam and Eve
Cain and Abel
Flood
Patriarchs and Prophets
Song of Songs
Blessed Virgin Mary
St. Anne, Mother of the Virgin
Mary
Blessed Virgin Mary—Early
History
Death, Assumption, and Coronation
of BVM
Miracles of Virgin
Annunciation and Visitation
Infancy
Shepherds at Nativity
Herod/Flight to Egypt/Holy Innocents
Holy Family/Christ in Temple
Baptism/St.
John the Baptist
Ministry
Parables
Last Supper
The Passion
Judas
Wounds/Body and Image of Pity
Crucifixion/Cross
Planctus Mariae
Deposition/Pietà/Entombment
Easter Sepulcher
Harrowing
Resurrection
Appearances
Ascension
Pentecost
Antichrist
Last Judgment
The Trinity
Heaven
Angels
Devils
Purgatory
Apostles
Evangelists
Saints —Miscellaneous
Saints A–Z
Unofficial Saints
Relics
General Iconography
PART II: ART AND ARCHITECTURE
Brasses
Coins and Badges
Embroidery, Vestment, Tapestry,
Painted Cloth
Glass, Stained and Painted
Ivories
Jewelry, Including Paxes
Manuscripts and Printed
Books
Mosaics
Painting
Plate and Enamels
Sculpture, Including Alabasters
Seals
Woodcarving
Wall Painting
Miscellaneous
English Churches
Images and Iconoclasm
PART
III: MUSIC
General
Music in Medieval and Renaissance
Drama
PART IV: EARLY DRAMA
Liturgical Drama
Vernacular—English and Cornish
Miscellaneous
Brome Plays
Chester Plays
Coventry Plays
Cornish Plays
Digby Plays
Lincoln
London
N-Town Plays
Towneley Plays
York
Moralities—English
Interludes
Traditional Drama (“Folk
Plays”)
Continental Drama
French
German
Italian
Spain and Mexico
Scandinavia
Low
Countries
Central and Eastern Europe
Asian Theater
Miscellaneous
Drama in the Vernacular—General
PRODUCTION
Actors
Processions, Wagons, Entries
Puppets
Costume and Makeup
Production and Staging
Gesture
Theaters and Stages
Games
Feasts and Feasting
Entertainments and Masques