Patrons and narratives of the Parler School: The Marian Tympana Rodney Aist The Marian portals in Augsburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Thann and Ulm - products of the Parler workshops - are among the most spectacular and innovative gothic enterprises of the fourteenth century. Teeming with hundreds of sculptured figures set in an elaborate narrative, they share a similar story: the life of the Virgin Mary and stories of the Creation. Through a close examination of these visual narratives as a late medieval art of communication, and an exploration of their visual strategies, the author contextualizes their function within their cultural milieu.