Researching Art in the Middle Ages (HC)

In the Middle Ages, people believed that studying animals allowed them to read the Divine Order. In image and word, medieval bestiaries illustrated animals in stunning detail and explained their scientific nature as well as their allegorical significance. The bestiary reproduced here dates from the mid-13th century.

Created by Sephardi (or "southern") artists and scribes in Catalonia in the second quarter of the fourteenth century, this Hebrew manuscript sets out the liturgy and sequence of the Passover Seder with additional historical essays.

Facsimile edition of a 15th-century (ca. 1460-1477), heart-shaped song book belonging to Jean de Montchenu (Ms. Occ. Rothschild 2973). The manuscript is housed in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Illuminated with spectacular miniatures and borders in glittering gold and splendid colors, this manuscript was made for Catherine of Cleves, Duchess of Guelders The book presents more than 100 leaves of the manuscript, including important scenes from the Old and New Testaments as well as the Stations of the Cross and portraits of the saints.

The visionary nature of the Apocalypse - the biblical book of Revelation - along with its detailed descriptions of the end of the world have long made it ideal for illustration. This title offers an illustrated exploration of this 13th-century English Apocalyptic manuscript.

Facsimile reproduction of 46 leaves of an incomplete manuscript of Old Testament illustrations, possibly commissioned by King Louis IX of France and produced in Paris ca. 1250. The manuscript includes Latin texts accompanying the illuminations; in the 17th century it came into the possession of the king of Persia, and Persian explanations were inscribed in the margins; a later owner added commentary in Judeo-Persian. The Morgan Library has made a digitized version of the manuscript available.

The Tacuinum sanitatis was an 11th century health handbook written by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad. In the 14th century illustrated versions made in Italy the emphasis is on attractive scenes drawing on themes from courtly love, fashionable dress, and estate management for an idealized view of agriculture, food production and the developing stages of shopping and a consumer economy.

Commissioned by the influential patron, Jean de Berry, in the early 15th century, this book was illustrated by the three Limbourg brothers. It opens with a calendar showing scenes of daily life during the twelve months and is followed by the prayers of offices celebrated at different times of the day.

With over 270 color illustrations and contributions by 25 leading scholars, this volume explores the bestiary and its widespread influence on medieval art and culture as well as on modern artists like Pablo Picasso.

Medieval manuscript expert de Hamel discusses a range of illuminated manuscripts from The British Library's unparalleled collection, some of them unfinished and so revealing the processes involved in an illuminator's work. He also explores the role of illuminators in the medieval book trade - how books were commissioned, the patron's expectations, how illuminators worked with scribes, the materials and techniques they used, and the time and expertise involved in creating these masterpieces.

Surveys the many forms in which writing has evolved in East and West, the tools and materials used, and how they have influenced the development of scripts. She examines particularly the processes involved in the production of the medieval book in the West, and assesses the impact of later technological developments in communication on the current state of writing and its future.

From handwritten texts to online books, the page has been a standard interface for transmitting knowledge for over two millennia. It is also a dynamic device, readily transformed to suit the needs of contemporary readers. In How the Page Matters, Bonnie Mak explores how changing technology has affected the reception of visual and written information.

"This book provides an orientation to the field of medieval manuscript studies. It will be of help to students in history, art history, literature, and religious studies who are encountering medieval manuscripts for the first time, while also appealing to advanced scholars and general readers interested in the history of the book before the age of print. Every chapter in this guidebook features numerous color plates that exemplify each aspect described in the text and are drawn primarily from the collections of the Newberry Library in Chicago and the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge."--BOOK JACKET.

Unlike books from print culture, every medieval book is unique, the product of individual planning, execution, and history. This is a fundamental difficulty for study, particularly for those beginning the study of manuscripts. How should you proceed? This book attempts, in a heavily exemplified account, to explain what might be there in a manuscript to perceive and what it might mean.

The text explains the complexities of Vigils, octaves, Egyptian Days, Golden Numbers, Dominical Letters, movable feasts and the key role played by the saints days, including the colors in which they are written as well as their rankings and gradings. The author also shares his step-by-step method to localize a medieval calendar and discover its use; readers learn how to assess a calendar's roster of liturgical feasts as a key to revealing the place where it was destined to be used.

Covers patronage, materials and techniques, arrangement, and illumination. From Central European University, Budapest.

Chapters cover the material conditions and economy of the book trade; amateur production both lay and religious; the effects of censorship; and the impact on English book production of manuscripts and artisans from elsewhere in the British Isles and Europe. A wide-ranging and innovative series of essays, this volume is a major contribution to the history of the book in medieval England. Check Tripod for print copies.

The illuminated manuscript was the primary vehicle of learning, religion, and art during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Of all the illuminated manuscripts from this period, the Book of Hours was, by far, the most popular and among the most exquisitely made. It contained prayers to be recited by aristocratic and well-to-do lay people. Many books of hours were elaborately decorated.

What is a florilegium? What is an incipit? What is batarde script? This book offers definitions of these and numerous other techniques, processes, and materials used in medieval illuminated manuscripts. With numerous illustrations, this volume will be invaluable to those wishing to increase their understanding and enjoyment of illuminated manuscripts.