aeo A concise but wide--ranging work by one of Francea s greatest historians. aeo Discusses the relation between art and society in Europe from the fifth to the fifteenth century. aeo Demonstrates how the meaning and significance of art changes over time.

In this beautifully written book, Georges Duby, one of France's greatest medieval historians, returns to one of the central themes of his work - the relationship between art and society. He traces the evolution of artistic forms from the fifth to the fifteenth century in parallel with the structural development of society, in order to create a better understanding of both. Duby traces shifts in the centres of artistic production and changes in the nature and status of those who promoted works of art and those who produced them. At the same time, he emphasizes the crucial continuities that still gave the art of medieval Europe a basic unity, despite the emergence of national characteristics. Duby also reminds us that the way we approach these artistic forms today differs greatly from how they were first viewed. For us, they are works of art from which we expect and derive aesthetic pleasure; but for those who commissioned them or made them, their value was primarily functional - gifts offered to God, communications with the other world, or affirmations of power - and this remained the case throughout the Middle Ages. This book will be of interest to students and academics in medieval history and history of art.

'Georges Duby was one of the leading medievalists of the twentieth century, a historian with a long-standing interest in art. This book compresses the knowledge of a lifetime into an elegant, lapidary essay packed with perceptive comments on both art and society, making it as indispensable for specialists as it is accessible to students and art-loving general readers.' Peter Burke, Professor of Cultural History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge