The highly regarded scholar of Romanesque sculpture in Italy, Glass breaks from the long-standing focus in the art history of Italy on names and styles to give precedence instead to the specifics of context. She focuses on medieval Mantua and the abbeys at San Benedetto Po and Nonantola to argue that it was the cultural and intellectual life of these abbeys that provided the framework for the reformist ethos of much of the sculpture adorning the cathedral of Modena. She then compares the purity and intensity of the sculptural statement at Modena with the somewhat later and more theologically mixed statements propounded at the cathedrals of Piacenza and Cremona. The volume is heavily illustrated with b&w plates of the sculpture, buildings, ground plans, and maps. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)