Medieval History
As a medievalist, I have gone through my studies with many unanswered questions regarding illuminated manuscripts. Text books can only take the intrepid scholar so far. What do the bindings look like? What does vellum actually feel to the touch, how does it look as its turning? How do the images within a single Book of Hours relate to one another, and to the viewer? What does an ancient text smell like, and what does that tell you? What does it actually feel like to hold an illuminated manuscript, perhaps owned by one of the Duc de Berry's relatives, how much does it weigh?
Museum visits only let you explore a manuscript through a glass barrier - much like prisoners using telephones in high security prisons :). Textbooks can only describe with words, to be perceived intellectually. These are both fine ways to glean facts, but I've always craved more. To get a full sense of what these artworks are, I've always wanted to meet them.
So when a librarian friend at the Harold B. Lee Library informed me that the L. Tom Perry Special Collections has recently acquired a gorgeous illuminated Book of Hours (c. 1450-1480), my heart leapt to think I may actually have a chance to experience a Book of Hours in person.
The catalogue states it was made in Italy, but it doesn't appear so to me. I think it looks French, however it has some similarities with some Flemish fifteenth century illuminations as well. But since this is my blog, and I never protest to be an expert, and I'd be only to happy to have a conversation with someone about this, we're going to go with what I believe to be the truth. So its French.
I took hundreds of photographs, as the curator of the collections was kind enough to give me permission to post them here. So I will endeavor to write about this Book of Hours in a series of posts on this blog, each with "LTPSC Book of Hours" in the title, to share what I learned (a huge amount of information!).
First, a note about the photographs. I don't have a profession camera, and so the pictures are clearly imperfect. But my little red camera did a fine job. Also, every image is owned by the Special Collections at the Harold B. Lee Library, and may not be published without permission.
That will suffice as an introduction for now - I hope I've tantalized you with the promise of some medieval glory to come! Keep a sharp eye as I'll start posting these photographs and some discussion in the coming weeks.....
- Medieval Exhibition Spotlights Stanford Libraries' Manuscript Collection
For centuries, Bibles were painstakingly copied and lavishly illustrated, and then cherished from generation to generation. They became the focus of scholarly, creative and mystical activity for a millennium. You can trace the Bible's literary...
- The Walters Art Museum Receives $265,000 Neh Grant To Digitize Over 100 Flemish Manuscripts
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has granted the Walters Art Museum $265,000 for a three-year project to digitize, catalog and distribute 113 illuminated medieval manuscripts from Flanders, present-day northeastern France and Belgium. This...
- Creatures In The Marginalia, Ltpsc Book Of Hours
Fantastical creatures in the marginalia of late medieval illuminated manuscripts: What are they? Products of boredom? Expressions of the imagination? Pure distraction? The fifteenth century Book of Hours in the L Tom Perry Special Collections had a handful...
- Ltpsc Book Of Hours: Mystery Saint(?), And The Gaze In Medieval Art
My education at Brigham Young University's Art History undergraduate and graduate department was excellent. Their academic focus is to teach students a general knowledge of all areas of Art History. This has both good and bad effects; I feel as competent...
- Ltpsc Book Of Hours: Sonnet Update!
I wrote to one of my professors at BYU, Dr. Jesse Hurlbut to seek some answers about the Book of Hours. He is part of the French Studies Department, and some of his scholarly interests involve pageantry and theater in the Middle Ages and Renaissance,...
Medieval History
LTPSC Book of Hours: Introduction
As a medievalist, I have gone through my studies with many unanswered questions regarding illuminated manuscripts. Text books can only take the intrepid scholar so far. What do the bindings look like? What does vellum actually feel to the touch, how does it look as its turning? How do the images within a single Book of Hours relate to one another, and to the viewer? What does an ancient text smell like, and what does that tell you? What does it actually feel like to hold an illuminated manuscript, perhaps owned by one of the Duc de Berry's relatives, how much does it weigh?
Museum visits only let you explore a manuscript through a glass barrier - much like prisoners using telephones in high security prisons :). Textbooks can only describe with words, to be perceived intellectually. These are both fine ways to glean facts, but I've always craved more. To get a full sense of what these artworks are, I've always wanted to meet them.
So when a librarian friend at the Harold B. Lee Library informed me that the L. Tom Perry Special Collections has recently acquired a gorgeous illuminated Book of Hours (c. 1450-1480), my heart leapt to think I may actually have a chance to experience a Book of Hours in person.
The catalogue states it was made in Italy, but it doesn't appear so to me. I think it looks French, however it has some similarities with some Flemish fifteenth century illuminations as well. But since this is my blog, and I never protest to be an expert, and I'd be only to happy to have a conversation with someone about this, we're going to go with what I believe to be the truth. So its French.
I took hundreds of photographs, as the curator of the collections was kind enough to give me permission to post them here. So I will endeavor to write about this Book of Hours in a series of posts on this blog, each with "LTPSC Book of Hours" in the title, to share what I learned (a huge amount of information!).
First, a note about the photographs. I don't have a profession camera, and so the pictures are clearly imperfect. But my little red camera did a fine job. Also, every image is owned by the Special Collections at the Harold B. Lee Library, and may not be published without permission.
That will suffice as an introduction for now - I hope I've tantalized you with the promise of some medieval glory to come! Keep a sharp eye as I'll start posting these photographs and some discussion in the coming weeks.....
- Medieval Exhibition Spotlights Stanford Libraries' Manuscript Collection
For centuries, Bibles were painstakingly copied and lavishly illustrated, and then cherished from generation to generation. They became the focus of scholarly, creative and mystical activity for a millennium. You can trace the Bible's literary...
- The Walters Art Museum Receives $265,000 Neh Grant To Digitize Over 100 Flemish Manuscripts
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has granted the Walters Art Museum $265,000 for a three-year project to digitize, catalog and distribute 113 illuminated medieval manuscripts from Flanders, present-day northeastern France and Belgium. This...
- Creatures In The Marginalia, Ltpsc Book Of Hours
Fantastical creatures in the marginalia of late medieval illuminated manuscripts: What are they? Products of boredom? Expressions of the imagination? Pure distraction? The fifteenth century Book of Hours in the L Tom Perry Special Collections had a handful...
- Ltpsc Book Of Hours: Mystery Saint(?), And The Gaze In Medieval Art
My education at Brigham Young University's Art History undergraduate and graduate department was excellent. Their academic focus is to teach students a general knowledge of all areas of Art History. This has both good and bad effects; I feel as competent...
- Ltpsc Book Of Hours: Sonnet Update!
I wrote to one of my professors at BYU, Dr. Jesse Hurlbut to seek some answers about the Book of Hours. He is part of the French Studies Department, and some of his scholarly interests involve pageantry and theater in the Middle Ages and Renaissance,...