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Article: Sumptuous images.
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- December 20, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Great Altarpieces Gothic and Renaissance Caterina Limentani Virdis and Mari Pietrogiovanna Vendome, $150, 421 pp.
Looking at church architecture closely can teach a person a good deal about theology and liturgical practice. Early Christian basilicas like those in Rome and elsewhere typically had an altar facing the people with a space behind for the presiding celebrant and his clergy. With the rise of private Masses, chapels began to bulge out from the laterals of the church and altars began to be recessed against the walls. That shift encouraged decorative artistic works like crucifixes to be affixed to the walls facing the priests and the congregation. That ...