Marginal Sculpture in Medieval France: Towards the Deciphering of an Enigmatic Pictorial Language (review)

180 Reviews Monarchs, however absolute their power, are constrained both by their inevitable dependence on advisors and servants and by the customs and expectations of their subjects. They are also constrained by their resources and Kamen spends some time demonstrating that even the wealth of the Indies did not provide Philip with sufficient resources for his multifarious obligations. Throughout the study, Kamen stresses Philip's comparative lack of leverage, making clear, for example, that governors of the Netherlands, once appointed, had complete delegated authority to act as the situation appeared to warrant and that Philip's letters should be regarded as advice rather than orders. Kamen follows Parker in showing how particular crises on different fronts shaped the allocation of resources and the strategy he followed. The weakness of Kamen's approach is that he is unable, in the end, to explain Philip's overall strategy and motivation. W h e n he stresses that Philip was not excessively religious he leaves a gap which is not filled by a more compelling interpretation. Constrained by his evidence, K a m e n can make Philip neither hero nor villain nor tragic victim of circumstances. In the end he leaves a curiously disconcerting image of a conscientious, well-meaning individual struggling against depression to fulfil a role he did not choose and aware of his o w n inadequacy for the job, an inadequacy which was responsible for uncounted deaths, misery and destruction and a legacy of hatred between individuals and states. Even his beloved Spaniards ultimately disapproved of him. Sybil M. Jack Department of History University of Sydney Kenaan-Kedar, Nurith, Marginal Sculpture in Medieval France: Towards the Deciphering ofan Enigmatic Pictorial Language, Aldershot, Scolar Press, 1995 cloth; pp. 228; 120 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. £59.50. The study of the marginal in medieval art has become a popular topic for research in recent years. In Nurith Kenaan-Kedar's book, the subject matter involves both the marginalised figure—the prostitute, the beggar and the jongleur—and the overlooked, marginalised art form: the sculpted corbel and gargoyle. To do this she examines the sculptural programmes of Romanesque and Gothic churches, from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, spread across France. The work is extensively illustrated with 120 original photographs and a detailed appendix cataloguing 750 pieces found in thirteen churches. Most have not been studied or photographed before. Within the book she maps the shifting meanings of this imagery, arguing that Gothic sculpture had a very different function from that of Romanesque. It moved from the outside to the inside of church buildings, from the Reviews 181 unsystematic, casual connections made in early programmes to the more ordered, unified iconographical systems of the Gothic. As such the imagery conforms to observations made about other sculptural details, such as the capitals in Romanesque churches like Moissac, being rarely planned as integrated iconographical schema, ranging from religious subjects appropriate to the location to other forms such as plants, human and hybrids. These images, she argues, are a revival of 'sensuous and spontaneous elements of Roman art'. While the creators of the Romanesque sculptures expressed humour and protest in their work, later sculptors mirrored their o w n society. Kenaan-Kedar argues that these recurring themes act as a subversive counter to the official ecclesiastical programmes found in the main sculptural schemes. She suggests that the imagery worked on multiple levels, with different meanings for the patrons and the sculptors. Unfortunately, the author does not locate her argument within the wider discussion of Romanesque and Gothic sculpture, which would probably have strengthened and tested the points she has to make. In discussing these corbels, Kenaan-Kedar distinguishes them from decorative patterns, by using E. H. Gombrich's model, developed in The Sense ofOrder: A Study in the Psychology ofDecorative Art (Oxford, 1979), that, becau the relationship between the individual units is casual, they do not function as a decorative system of recurring patterns, even when they frame a central composition. She also distinguishes them from marginalia found in manuscripts, suggesting that Michael Camille, w h o had argued for some familial connections in Image on the Edge: The Margins in Medieval...