Time in the Medieval World. Occupations of the Months and signs of the Zodiac in the Index of Christian Art. Index of Christian Art. Resources III. Edited by Colum Hourihane. Princeton: Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University in association with Penn State University Press, 2007. Pp. lxviii + 346; 657 illustrations. $85 (cloth); $35 (paper).

Edited by Colum Hourihane, the Director of the Index of Christian Art, this volume is the latest in a series to draw attention to a prominent theme in medieval art as found in the extensive records of the Index. The two previous volumes in the series (Virtue and Vice, The Personifications in the Index of Christian Art, 2000, and King David in the Index of Christian Art, 2002), also edited by Hourihane, endeavored to make the holdings of the Index appealing to a new generation of scholars and more accessible to all those interested in medieval iconography. Time in the Medieval World continues this enterprise by presenting a significant portion of the Index’s holdings on the topic of time as it was represented in Christian art between the ninth and the sixteenth centuries. The narrower focus within the topic of time is the artistic depiction of the twelve months of the year and the twelve signs of the zodiac.

Elizabeth I. Wade-Sirabian
University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh