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In discussing the artistic means by which the investment in art was carried out, Bernard particularly criticizes excess in art, focusing especially on excess in material, craftsmanship, size, and quantity. In this criticism, what he most objects to is not monumental sculpture and painting but rather
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monasticism (virtually all of the greatest medieval art up until this time had been religious). Since traditional
Benedictine monasticism was one of the richest and most influential segments of society—and since art was one of the great vehicles of interaction between traditional monasticism and the
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Perhaps
Bernard's harshest criticism of the monastic use of art addresses the economic base of monastic art production: the monastic investment in art for the purpose of attracting donations from the visiting public. In doing so, he takes up a number of different themes such as the justification of
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In his critique of the reception of art on the part of the general public, Bernard took up the indispensable element of medieval pilgrimage art: the equation between excessive art and holiness, that is, the use of excessive art in order to create a sense of
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One of
Bernard's most important criticisms of the monastic use of art is that of art as a spiritual distraction to the monk. Aside from simple distraction, this criticism includes such dangers to the medieval monk as curiosity and
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is the most articulate document we have for this controversy and one of the most important in understanding how medieval art was used and perceived. In it, Bernard takes up five major criticisms of the use of monastic art.
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but also others) saw the use of art by monks as inappropriate for a number of reasons. Criticism of the use of monastic art was seen as a criticism of the greatest patrons of religious art of the time, traditional
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Following in the patristic tradition, Bernard also sees art as in opposition to the care of the poor, his most significant social objection external to monasticism properly speaking.
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lay public, this interaction being an important source of wealth for monasticism—the controversy over art that arose involved far more than aesthetic questions.
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investing in art, art for the honor of God, the relation between material and spiritual prosperity, and the financial necessity of pilgrimage art.
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in particular and that of other offending
Cluniac and traditional Benedictine monasteries in general, more recent scholarship has shown that the
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was instead directed at not only all of traditional monasticism but also marginal traditional
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Rudolph, Conrad (1988-01-01). "Bernard of
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liturgical art, that is, works often of gold, silver, and jewels that were used in the liturgy and often in the Cult of Relics.
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The "Things of
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was written in 1125 at the ostensible request of his friend and fellow monastic reformer,
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