Cover illustrations:
Author. Diotisalvi, Baptistery of San Giovanni (cathedral in foreground), begun 1152, Pisa.
Author. Detail of The Last Judgment, marble, 1310–30, Orvieto.
Scala, Florence. Detail of The Deception of Isaac, fresco, 1290s, Assisi.
Author. Nicola Pisano, detail of The Temptation, marble, 1278, Perugia.
Wikimedia Commons/public domain. Detail from Giovanni Morelli’s Italian Painters (1892).
This book has received the Weiss-Brown Publication Subvention Award from the Newberry Library. The award supports the publication of outstanding works of scholarship that cover European civilization before 1700 in the areas of music, theater, French or Italian literature, or cultural studies. It is made to commemorate the career of Howard Mayer Brown.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Shoaf, Matthew G., author.
Title: Monumental sounds : art and listening before Dante / Matthew G. Shoaf.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2021] | Series: Brill’s studies on art, art history, and intellectual history, 1878–9048 ; volume 55 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021016913 (print) | LCCN 2021016914 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004415003 (hardback) | ISBN 9789004460812 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Senses and sensation in art. | Christian art and symbolism—Italy—Medieval, 500–1500. | Art, Gothic—Italy—Themes, motives. | Narrative art, Italian—Themes, motives. | Senses and sensation—Religious aspects—Christianity.
Classification: LCC N8241.3 .S56 2021 (print) | LCC N8241.3 .S56 2021 (ebook) | DDC 704.9/482—dc23
LC record available at
LC ebook record available at
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download:
ISSN 1878-9048
ISBN 978-90-04-41500-3 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-46081-2 (e-book)
Copyright 2021 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Hotei, Brill Schöningh, Brill Fink, Brill mentis, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Böhlau Verlag and V&R Unipress.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Requests for re-use and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill NV via
This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.