Synopsis
No manuscript is an island. We may consider medieval illumination as a single characteristic of the whole Middle Ages, but every manuscript is part of the evolving history of European art and culture, and every one belongs to a place and period. The Sandra Hindman Collection is a remarkable journey through time and location. Every illuminated cutting described here is a microcosm of a larger history. A sublime initial from a twelfth-century Bible from France is part of a setting which includes Chartres Cathedral, the Crusades and Abelard; two late thirteenth-century narrative miniatures of saints from northern Italy have stepped from in a world inhabited by Giotto and Dante and the basilica of Santa Croce in Florence; a miniature by the Berlin Master of Mary of Burgundy belongs in age of Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling; a painting from a choir book by the Master B.F. can hold its place with Leonardo da Vinci and Palestrina. Manuscripts were always at the heart of intellectual and visual culture. For thirty years Sandra Hindman has been selecting and refining a collection of perfect medieval miniatures which are the quintessence of their time. Each is a window which illuminates a world. The history of stained glass, architecture, fresco painting, tapestries and wood carving, as well as medieval literature, religion, music and romance, are all made slightly clearer and more focused by looking at the illuminated miniatures chosen for exhibition here.
About the Author
Christopher de Hamel is perhaps the best-known name world-wide in the field of medieval Manuscripts. He has written multiple books on manuscripts and book collecting, many of which have been translated into at least seven languages, and he has also lectured throughout the world. For nearly forty years he worked at Sothebys London in the Department of Western Manuscripts and later as a Consultant. Recently retired as Librarian of the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, he is Fellow of the College, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and a member of the Roxburghe Club. In 2016 he published the best-selling book Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts for which he was awarded the prestigious Wolfson History and Duff Cooper Prizes. James H. Marrow is Professor Emeritus of Art History, Princeton University, and Honorary Keeper of Illuminated Manuscripts, The Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, England). He is author of many books and articles on late medieval art, with special attention to illuminated manuscripts from the Netherlands. Among his publications are Passion Iconography in Northern European Art of the Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance: A Study of the Transformation of Sacred Metaphor into Descriptive Narrative (1979), and with Sandra Hindman, Books of Hours Reconsidered. Matthew J. Westerby holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His area of specialization is Romanesque art of medieval Spain.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
