![]() No one knows what, exactly, the scenes really mean. Photo: Brunetto Latini’s Li Livres dou Tresor, c. “But the ubiquity of these depictions doesn’t make them any less strange,” says the British Library, rounding up a number of examples of the slimy battles. Usually, the knight is drawn so that he looks worried, stunned, or shocked by his tiny foe.Įpic snail-on-knight combat showed up as often in medieval manuscripts as Kilroy across Europe. Sometimes the snail is all the way across the page, sometimes right under the knight’s foot. Sometimes the snail is monstrous, sometimes tiny. They’re everywhere! Sometimes the knight is mounted, sometimes not. As Got Medieval writes, “You get these all the time in the margins of Gothic manuscripts.”Īnd I do mean all the time. It’s a great unsolved mystery of medieval manuscripts. And scattered through this marginalia is an oddly recurring scene: a brave knight in shining armor facing down a snail. I think it's important to keep in mind that although they were books, they came to be prized more and more as works of art.It’s common to find, in the blank spaces of 13th- and 14th-century English texts, sketches and notes from medieval readers. Would have the opportunity to look at the wonderful pictures. Such a book was opened at night, and as the owner, or whatever, sat in bed, one of his aides wouldĪctually read them aloud, and then of course they In a way, the story allīegins with Boccaccio and his vision of their life. The aged couple areĪpproaching him, in fact, to tell their narrative. On the left you see Boccaccio himself, as he writes the story of this book, and on the right we have The wonderful clarity with which he conveys the different narratives in the book. Part of his greatness is, in fact, as a storyteller, for The fifteenth century, and an enormously influentialĪnd important artist. Greatest French illuminator of the first half of The miniature that you see here tells the story of Adam and Eve, and it's painted by The Boucicaut Master. Of "The Decameron." "The Fates of Illustrious Men and Women" tells how people rose up toįame and power and importance, and often, not long afterwards, suffered unpleasant fate. Great secular manuscript, written by Giovanni Boccaccio, the great Italian author Christ is always shown as this very human, very sensitive and fragile individual. Of the Annunciation, and all of these miniatures are set in these wonderful nocturnal scenes, that are lit only byĬandlelight and torches, as you see here, so that in fact, the effect in itself Manuscripts in the collection is this prayer book called, "The Prayer Book Albrecht of Brandenburg." Each of the prayers is illustrated with a magnificent miniature, which tells the very, very familiar story of Christ from the time Moral and spiritual message that the artist endeavors to imply, that it's all done withĪ great kind of clarity. Part of the beauty of this book is, despite the amount of Essentially, it has a veryĮlaborate, geometric structure. The symbols of the evangelists are shown in these little half-circles. This very simple design, with the mandorla in the center, the strong symmetry. ![]() His hand is raised in blessing, and it's all arranged in It shows Christ at his second coming, where He's shown resurrected in glory. This miniature on the left is one of the great miniatures, I think, in the book. It is considered the finest German illuminated manuscript The Stammheim Missal is arguably the greatest manuscript They are books that were written by hand and painted by hand, and painted with gold, silver, lapis, and precious materials, to glorify the Word of God. The earliest great illuminated manuscripts were of liturgical use. ![]() They were a primary art form, not a minor or decorative art form. The finest artists, of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance illuminated manuscripts. People often don't realize that the greatest artists, ![]() Were even important objects, or that they could be so finely and so splendidly painted. They come upon the gallery, I think, are rather surprised that these little books
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