| The Medieval Bookshelf: From Romance to Astronomy | |
| A Special Exhibition Review by Stan Parchin |
About the show:
Although religious texts were in great demand in medieval and Renaissance Europe, secular ones were, too. The intellectual pursuits of royalty and aristocracy, a burgeoning middle class of readers and university students called for their production. The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California is presently displaying some of these great works on paper in The Medieval Bookshelf: From Romance to Astronomy until April 9, 2006. This small-scale special exhibition is located in the museum's North Pavilion.
The 20 manuscripts and leaves (pages) from the J. Paul Getty Museum, accompanied by one work from a private collection, describe the wide range of interests of the literate in Europe primarily from the Thirteenth through Fifteenth Centuries. Their subjects include: science, law and philosophy; history; and entertainment and instruction. A bestiary or compendium of real and mythical animals, an oversized biography of Alexander the Great and a chivalric romance are among the show's treasures.
The Consolatio Philosophiae or Consolation of Philosophy was written by Boethius (480-525 A.D.), the Roman philosopher and statesman, in about 524. Imprisoned for treason possibly on the treacherous suspicion of conspiring with the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, Boethius awaited his trial and eventual execution by Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths (r. 488-526) and ruler of Italy (r. 493-526). Composed during the author's one-year incarceration in Pavia, Italy, the book is a dialogue between Boethius and Lady Philosophy, the Queen of Science. The author explores human nature, virtue, justice, evil and the conflict between free will and predestination. In the face of adversity, Lady Philosophy explains the vicissitudes of Fortune to Boethius in an attempt to console him.
The Getty Museum possesses cuttings from a French copy of Boethius' work produced in the 1460s. They were created by the Coëtivy Master, an illuminator, painter and designer whose name and country of origin are lost to us. The extant miniatures from the Getty's version of the Consolation of Philosophy are fine examples of fifteenth-century manuscript illumination. In Philosophy Presenting the Seven Liberal Arts to Boethius (ca. 1460-1470), Lady Philosophy, with her elaborate headdress called a hennin, introduces the writer to the female personifications of Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Music, Geometry, Arithmetic and Astronomy, all fashionably attired in the aristocratic finery of the times. Assembled in a horizontal row, identified by the names above their heads and holding their respective attributes (symbols associated with each one), the seven liberal arts, standard subjects in medieval universities, assist in Boethius' understanding of philosophy. The Coëtivy Master spared no detail in this illustration for the French translation of the author's text, second only to the Bible in popularity during the Middle Ages. Arranged in a classically columned interior, twilight suffuses the courtly figures in warmth. An open window in the composition's right-hand corner reveals a hilly landscape, overshadowed by the presence of both the sun and the moon. Astronomy, obviously distracted, observes the celestial phenomenon as it occurs above her head.
Attributed to the Coëtivy Master (act. ca. 1450-ca. 1485 France)
Philosophy Presenting the Seven Liberal Arts to Boethius
French, Paris, ca. 1460-1470
Pen and black, green and red inks on parchment
24.1 x 15.6 cm (2 3/8 x 6 11/16 in.)
MS. 42, LEAF 2V
91.MS.11.2v
© The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
One other masterpiece of medieval illumination in this cleverly curated exhibition is An Emperor at Court, a leaf from the Historia de Duobus Amantibus or The Story of Two Lovers (ca. 1460-1470). Produced by an unknown French artist in the second half of the Fifteenth Century, the manuscript contains copies of letters, written in Latin, by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (1405-1464) while in residence at the Viennese court of the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III (r. 1452-1493). Piccolomini, the imperial poet laureate, was instrumental in brokering the 37-year-old Frederick's marriage to Princess Eleanore of Portugal, then 18 years of age, in 1452. This diplomatic coup resolved many of the emperor's financial debts by means of the adolescent bride's vast dowry. It also linked the Empire dynastically to the Iberian peninsula. Piccolomini was later elected Pope Pius II (r. 1458-1464).
The author's writings describe the intrigues of political life in Renaissance times. The Emperor at Court is a highly illustrative example of Piccolomini's candid recollections while in the service of Frederick III. In the miniature's foreground, the Holy Roman Emperor gestures disdainfully at a man dressed in a magenta robe. His fate is determined in the illumination's background, where he's ruthlessly stabbed to death at the city gate. The diminutive size of this image and the volume from which it comes suggests that the book was intended for personal use. The unknown artist, while not having mastered the perspectival relationship of scale between figure and architecture, gave each of the persons depicted a distinctly individual portrait in this telling yet fancifully illustrated narrative.
Unknown
An Emperor at Court (from Historia de Duobus Amantibus)
French, ca. 1460-1470
Tempera colors, gold leaf, gold paint and ink on parchment
17.6 x 11.4 cm (6 15/16 x 4 1/2 in.)
MS. 68, FOL. 14V
2001.45.14v
© The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
The Medieval Bookshelf: From Romance to Astronomy successfully addresses the subject of what literate people read in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It adequately describes their intellectual interests while vividly portraying life in an age of constant change.
For further reading:
Brown, Michelle P. Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts:
A Guide to Technical Terms.
Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Trust, 1994.
This handy, 128-page paperback book describes the terms associated with the techniques, materials and methods involved in the production of illuminated manuscripts. Concise explanations and color illustrations, using medieval and Renaissance examples, are clearly illustrative of the expressions defined.
Kren, Thomas, et al. Illuminating the Renaissance:
The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (exh. cat.).
Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Trust, 2003.
Kren's in-depth, 592-page monolithic study amply describes manuscript production in Northern Europe during the Renaissance with a breadth and scope unrivalled by other scholarly works.
"The Medieval Bookshelf: From Romance to Astronomy" remains on view through April 9, 2006 at the Getty Center, located at 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049-1681 (Telephone: 310-440-7300; Website: www.getty.edu). The museum is open Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Friday and Saturday from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Admission to the museum is free. Paid parking is based on availability and costs $7.00 per car, cash only.
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From your Guide: Stan Parchin, Senior Correspondent for Museums and Special Exhibitions, is a specialist in ancient, late-medieval and Renaissance art and history, and a regular contributor to About Art History. You may read all of his Special Exhibition and Catalogue Reviews here.
