Illuminated Manuscripts: Treasures of the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

by William M. Voelkle, Susan L'Engle

Glorious works of art as well as documents of bygone eras, painted and illuminated manuscripts supply perhaps the greatest and by far the best-preserved evidence of daily life during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. This Tiny Folio draws on one of the greatest collections in the world to illustrate the angels, demons, and everyday denizens of the medieval world.

Genres: Art History

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[Mohammad Ali Shamekhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

فقط کاش قطع کتاب انقدر کوچیک نبود. کاش

[Marks54 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well done guide book of illuminated manuscripts in the collection of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. I missed my last opportunity to visit the library and regret it deeply. This book provides small color reprints of hundreds of the manuscripts, from the high to late Middle Ages, organized according to a few general categories - biblical scenes, rites and rituals, flora and fauna, the supernatural, and royalty and other professions. The stars of the book are the pictures. If you have not spent much time looking at manuscripts like these, you may be surprised at their richness. They all are distinct art works, but also parts of larger books/collections. Each also provides a detailed look into different aspects of medieval life - not photographs or full representations, but still powerful views of life from centuries past, a truly different world.

I generally do not review guides and see them more as consumables, but I kept coming back to this one and kept carrying it around.

[Amiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intimate bedtime reading that gets me thinking about how language and art work together.