Picturing Prayer in the Middle Ages: Livres d'Heures
As an atheist-turned-agnostic-turned-areligious (merely semantical changes in my belief in god), I have always found the Middle Ages to be dull and dark. To be honest, I do not really know anything about the period of time, stretching some 500 years from about 800 - 1400. Other than little glimpses into the era through Sean Connery's memorable role as King Arthur in the movie, Disney's The Sword in the Stone, and Monty Python, medieval history had always seemed rather boring. Men in armor. Kings and battles. Christianity and feudal systems.
Perhaps it was also because the Middle Ages were sandwiched between two other luminary eras. The Renaissance replaced, or rather, improved on, many medieval modes of thinking and expression whereas classical Islamic civilization hogged the history books spanning the years preceding and during those same centuries. In short, the Dark Ages were dark because so little was known about it. We found other historical milestones to be more important.
Today no one ever calls those years the Dark Ages anymore - it's a type of misnomer akin to the use of the term "noble savage" when referring to backward tribes who purportedly have supernatural powers with nature. Medieval philosophers, rulers, and noblemen had their own Englightenment, and I so happened stumbled onto one of them: the Art of Illumination.
Illumination refers to the work done by pictors/illuminators of miniatures, small-scaled paintings and artwork done on parchment in prayer books, called Books of Hours, very much like the picture of a reproduction below.
ff. 18v-19, Annunciation. In Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on parchment
France, Loire Valley, Angers?, c. 1500.
Although many illuminations resemble the model above, most illumination differed subtly from one another even if they were meant to look the same as they were done by hand prior to the invention of the printing press in the 1400s. Indeed, some artists imposed their creative license onto such works of saintly women and liturgical scenes on purpose, trying to get at a message or sometimes just to be witty.
Through my course of study, I began to learn about the relationship between text and image, and image and image. I asked more questions than I had them answered, and it was very important to make sure we are not forcing our time and space onto the historical context of these books. Why is Jesus sometimes portrayed as a femininized figure? Is it important that the Virgin is to the left or the right of Gabriel in the Annunciation scene? How does this change the experience of reading? Why is an unidentified character showing his butt in the margins?
These questions occur rarely - but they do occur. I am listing some of the questions I had asked and I tend to look for the sexual and obscene/deviant as my interests lie in studying the representations of gender and sexuality. Indeed, the middle ages was a time during which many symbols and representation of concepts and ideas, both religious and secular, began coming into place. The depiction of the typical Crucifixion scene, with Mary and Mary or John flanking the dying/dead Christ comes from variation after variation of illuminated scenes from such prayer books.
ff. 34v-35,Crucifixion. In Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on parchment
France, Loire Valley, Angers?, c. 1500.
For my final project, I decided to create my own Book of Hours, done quite in the same vein as the Book of Hours (Use of Pointiers) above: Styling and arranging a prayer book through a Marian reading of the liturgy, paying homage to those great women mystics and healers who tasted the foreskin of Christ, who married Christ, who had visions of Christ. Little guess why the art is called 'illumination'.
Hours of the Virgin, Final Project:
Hours of the Dead (and The Death of the Virgin), Final Project:
I'll never watch Monty Python in the same way again.
Note: Images from the Book of Hours (Use of Pointiers) taken from this website that catalogs facsimiles and original copies of Books of Hours. The website also provides two great tutorials, basic and advanced, for understanding the historical context and structure as well as use of prayer books, including its patronage, iconography, and historiography.
Perhaps it was also because the Middle Ages were sandwiched between two other luminary eras. The Renaissance replaced, or rather, improved on, many medieval modes of thinking and expression whereas classical Islamic civilization hogged the history books spanning the years preceding and during those same centuries. In short, the Dark Ages were dark because so little was known about it. We found other historical milestones to be more important.
Today no one ever calls those years the Dark Ages anymore - it's a type of misnomer akin to the use of the term "noble savage" when referring to backward tribes who purportedly have supernatural powers with nature. Medieval philosophers, rulers, and noblemen had their own Englightenment, and I so happened stumbled onto one of them: the Art of Illumination.
Illumination refers to the work done by pictors/illuminators of miniatures, small-scaled paintings and artwork done on parchment in prayer books, called Books of Hours, very much like the picture of a reproduction below.
ff. 18v-19, Annunciation. In Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on parchment
France, Loire Valley, Angers?, c. 1500.
Although many illuminations resemble the model above, most illumination differed subtly from one another even if they were meant to look the same as they were done by hand prior to the invention of the printing press in the 1400s. Indeed, some artists imposed their creative license onto such works of saintly women and liturgical scenes on purpose, trying to get at a message or sometimes just to be witty.
Through my course of study, I began to learn about the relationship between text and image, and image and image. I asked more questions than I had them answered, and it was very important to make sure we are not forcing our time and space onto the historical context of these books. Why is Jesus sometimes portrayed as a femininized figure? Is it important that the Virgin is to the left or the right of Gabriel in the Annunciation scene? How does this change the experience of reading? Why is an unidentified character showing his butt in the margins?
These questions occur rarely - but they do occur. I am listing some of the questions I had asked and I tend to look for the sexual and obscene/deviant as my interests lie in studying the representations of gender and sexuality. Indeed, the middle ages was a time during which many symbols and representation of concepts and ideas, both religious and secular, began coming into place. The depiction of the typical Crucifixion scene, with Mary and Mary or John flanking the dying/dead Christ comes from variation after variation of illuminated scenes from such prayer books.
ff. 34v-35,Crucifixion. In Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on parchment
France, Loire Valley, Angers?, c. 1500.
For my final project, I decided to create my own Book of Hours, done quite in the same vein as the Book of Hours (Use of Pointiers) above: Styling and arranging a prayer book through a Marian reading of the liturgy, paying homage to those great women mystics and healers who tasted the foreskin of Christ, who married Christ, who had visions of Christ. Little guess why the art is called 'illumination'.
Hours of the Virgin, Final Project:
Hours of the Dead (and The Death of the Virgin), Final Project:
I'll never watch Monty Python in the same way again.
Note: Images from the Book of Hours (Use of Pointiers) taken from this website that catalogs facsimiles and original copies of Books of Hours. The website also provides two great tutorials, basic and advanced, for understanding the historical context and structure as well as use of prayer books, including its patronage, iconography, and historiography.
