The celestial country 1885

This is a photographic reproduction of a medieval poem, set within a contemporary book published in New York. The poem “The Celestial Country” by Bernard de Cluny and translated by Rev. John Mason Neale, offers a vision of Jerusalem as a golden city, radiant with glory. The inclusion of this poem in a printed book comments on the role of institutions like the church in shaping social values and reinforcing beliefs about the afterlife. The decision to present the poem alongside a photograph, a relatively new medium at the time, speaks to shifting modes of communication and representation. To understand this artwork better, one could research the history of religious publishing in 19th-century America. The meaning we give to art is contingent on its social and institutional context.