Art of the Middle Ages

This book is an excellent introduction to Medieval art, covering temple architecture, sculpture, stained glass, reliquaries, illuminated manuscripts, icons and early paintings, tapestries, armor, castles, houses. The only things I can imagine that she might have included are coins and jewelry, but even omitting them this is an unusually complete coverage. Under each heading, she examines 3-4 good examples of the subject, and in many cases she concludes by listing all/many other notable examples. Of course she can't go into detail on every Gothic church in France, but she goes over the most famous ones, and then provides a good, long list of others. I happily recommend this to anyone travelling in France, as I was when I read it, because you'll have the opportunity to see many examples of Medieval art. I can also recommend this to students because the author rarely indulges in excessive verbiage, she writes fairly simply and straightforwardly. Along with this, if you're interested in the Middle Ages, let me recommend two books: Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition (Yale Intellectual History of the West Se) and The Age of Reform, 1250-1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe.