Art in Spain and Portugal from the Romans to the Early Middle Ages

For generations maps of the pilgrimage roads and of the reconquista have bedevilled the study of Spanish art and architecture. They have also infiltrated the popular imagination and come to dominate the ways we think about Spain and Portugal. Art in Spain and Portugal from the Romans to the Early Middle Ages: Routes and Myths sets out to diminish the power of these images and to enrich the wider English-language literature on early medieval art. Starting with the Romans and working through the vertical layers to the early Romanesque period Rose Walker draws together scholarly work hitherto confined within disciplinary boundaries, specialist regional studies, and findings familiar only to Spanish-speaking audiences. The author builds on these studies and her own research to present narratives that question art historical and archaeological orthodoxies. New perspectives emerge from the routes along which wealth and artistic expertise crossed the peninsula, showing the endurance of the north-south axis and the strength of networks and pragmatic alliances that often operated without regard for religious difference.

"Rose Walker’s comprehensive and ambitious analysis of Iberian art and architecture during the first millennium AD is impressive both for its scale and for the author’s wealth of detail and interpretation. [...] This book is exactly what it claims to be and contains a truly remarkable range of assessed material; the subject’s accessibility as an invaluable source book is matched by the author’s refreshing interpretation of art and architectural history for scholars which is startling and innovative, and likely to appeal to a wider audience. [...] It was a privilege to read such a book as well as a humbling experience."- Alun Williams, University of Exeter, Al-Mas.q. Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean, 33:3 (2021) "[The author's] ambitious work provides an important foundation for understanding pre-Roman culture in the Iberian Peninsula, and provides a good overview of the state of previous, predominantly Spanish-language research."- Kristina Kruger, sehepunkte 19 Nr. 3 (2019). Translated from the German. "Readers will benefit from the wealth of detailed information about this fascinating and important corpus of material."- Wendy Davies, University of Oxford, English Historical Review, cxxxiii. 560 (2018) "Rose Walker’s book is thus a very welcome study that provides a good basis for every scholar of (early) medieval history of art in Spain and Portugal aiming to explore new ways of approaching art historical developments."- Susanne Martínez García, Independent Scholar, The Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies, 7 (2018) "This is a study of exceptional range, courage and originality, and one that advances multiple fields."- Tom Nickson, Journal of the British Archaeological Assocation Volume 170 (2017) "Rose Walker’s book is the first volume in Amsterdam University Press’s new series, Late Antique and Early Medieval Iberia, edited by Jamie Wood, which aims to present new, synthetic literature on the Iberian Peninsula in the period ranging from the Roman period to the tenth century. The series itself first and foremost deserves praise as it aims at making accessible research on late antique Iberian material in the English language, which over the past decade has attracted increasing attention by the broader medievalist community. [...] It is refreshing to see new approaches to material culture through Art History compiled in such a useful volume; and the author is to be congratulated for such a valuable contribution which will most certainly be a great resource for teaching, research and as general reference."- Javier Martínez Jiménez, Cambridge, Plekos 19

Rose Walker (PhD, University of London 1995) is an Associate Scholar at The Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Her research focuses on Spanish medieval art.