Acknowledgements
Touching the Passion would not have been realized without the help of my colleagues, friends, and family. Teaching with Anne Beidler, Nell Ruby, and Katherine Smith in the art department of Agnes Scott College has been both a pleasure and an ongoing source of inspiration. I will always cherish our collaborative efforts in making the marriage of art history and studio art a success. I would also like to thank Calvin Burgamy for his digital prowess and Stephany Kurth for her magical powers of interlibrary loan. Medieval friends are too numerous to mention, but I would especially like to acknowledge Terryl Kinder, Linda Neagley, Elizabeth Pastan, Laura Hollengreen, Anne Harris, Laura Gelfand, Vibeke Olson, Janet Marquardt, Paula Leveto, Walter Melion, Elina Gertsman, Michael Cothren, and Nancy Thebaut. Friends who have both inspired and assisted me throughout the research and writing of this book on Dijon soil are Elizabeth Réveillon, Sylvia Rhyne and Eric Redlinger (also known as Asteria), Sherry Thevenot, Angelina, and the late Jacques Noël.
Who was it that said âwriting is easy, I just sit down at the typewriter/computer and open a veinâ? I could not have endured those bloodlettings if it were not for my friends. Lucinda, I fear you have been the most splattered with inkâmy deepest gratitude. I would also like to thank Ruth Coody, Maureen Nolan, Terry McGehee, Leah Owenby, Rosemary Zumwalt, Sandra Bowden, Richard Parry, Ed Sheehey, Elizabeth Yates, Lockey Mcdonald, Barbara Kopelman, Ellen Loe Taylor, Donna Podis, Denise Nay, John Fuller, Chuck Smith, Rosemary Cunningham, and the ladies who dine, Gué Hudson, Mary Brown Bullock, and Peggy Thompson.
Speaking of blood, I would like to thank my family for their support and encouragement. I would like to thank my daughter, Lauren Rose, and my three stepchildren, Santiago, Alexandra, and Leah; it has been an honor to be a part of your lives. I am grateful to my brother Gary, who provided me with memories that I treasure; as well as Ronnie and Marilyn, and their gifted offspring. I would also like to thank my second mother, Mimi, and her nephew, Marty Fenstersheib, who is a photographer extraordinaire and occasional yoga instructor, among many other things. Apparently, it takes some writers more than a village.
Touching the Passion represents a small contribution to the study of altarpieces; I am deeply indebted to the scholars who preceded me and I look forward to the scholarship that will follow.