Tree of Jesse Iconography in Northern Europe in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

This book is the first detailed investigation of the late medieval use of the Tree of Jesse, the genealogical tree of Christ depicted on many objects across different media, created in Northern Europe in the mid-fifteenth to early sixteenth centuries.

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This book is the first detailed investigation to focus on the late medieval use of Tree of Jesse imagery, traditionally a representation of the genealogical tree of Christ. In northern Europe, from the mid-fifteenth to the early sixteenth centuries, it could be found across a wide range of media. Yet, as this book vividly illustrates, it had evolved beyond a simple genealogy into something more complex, which could be modified to satisfy specific religious requirements. It was also able to function on a more temporal level, reflecting not only a clerical preoccupation with a sense of communal identity, but a more general interest in displaying a family’s heritage, continuity and/or social status. It is this dynamic and polyvalent element that makes the subject so fascinating.