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medievalpoc @medievalpoc
, 12 tweets, 6 min read Read on Twitter
A lot of people assume that European illuminated manuscripts must have very limited representation of human figures with dark or brown skin, and that's not really true. Historia de Proeliis (Montbaston, France c. 1340) is one with a significant percentage medievalpoc.tumblr.com/post/175746030…
More from @BLMedieval Royal 19 D I, Historia de Proeliis (Montbaston, France c. 1340). The manuscript's images (and much of the text) are online here: bl.uk/catalogues/ill…
All of these people are meant to be everything from knights, kings, magicians, and heroes to representative of nations or groups, defenders, executioners of traitors, characters from stories, or other stuff entirely.
I add this because I've definitely been asked, "What does it mean when a figure in a manuscript is depicted with dark/brown skin?" and like...when you ask this way, you're creating a limitation on both history and your imagination that doesn't actually exist.
Another question I get a lot that's inherently limiting is like, "How many people of color can be included *accurately*?" as if there's some kind of knowable demographic number. Like it actually has to BE finite, and we are beholden to existing objects before we can create.
other manuscripts with representation comparable to this one incl.
The Bristol Psalter, 11c. Greek [Add MS 40731]
bl.uk/manuscripts/Fu…
The Divine Comedy, 14c. Italian [Egerton 943]
bl.uk/catalogues/ill…
Grandes Chroniques de France [Royal MS G VI]
bl.uk/manuscripts/Fu…
Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%C3%A8s…
The Cantigas de Santa Maria
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantigas_…
Libro de los Juegos (The Book of Games)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libro_de_…
The Morgan Beatus
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Be…
Egerton Genesis Picture Book [Egerton MS 1894]
bl.uk/manuscripts/Fu…
Ashburnham Pentateuch [BnF nouvelle acq. Latin 2334]
gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv…
The De Brailes Hours [Add MS 49999]
bl.uk/manuscripts/Fu…
There are more but I think that ^^ is good for now. But basically these manuscripts have more than just the usual/expected representation of people of color.
And just in case you were wondering this thread is based in years of my own independent research of just going through digitized collections like that of @BLMedieval for hundreds of hours.
I really appreciate the social media people for collections like those, even when they're just promoting a newly digitized MS that I can go through and see if there's anything for me there.
Words cannot express how excited I got when people first started "showing" me things on social media they found themselves...considering sometimes when I first started up to like 6 hours of searching would result in like, ONE post.
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Giuseppe Castiglione, also known as Lang Shining (郎世寧), was born on July 19, 1688, in the central San Marcellino district of Milan, Italy. At the age of 27, he received instructions to go to China where he served as an artist at the imperial court of three emperors.
While in China, Castiglione took the name Lang Shining (郎世寧), and adapted his Western painting style to Chinese themes and taste. This painting of Xiang Fei (A woman) in European Armour was made c.1760, and resides in National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Giuseppe Castiglione
Kazaks offering horses in tribute to the Emperor Qianlong
China/Southern Italy (1757)
Ink and colors on paper; hanging scroll. 45.5 x 269 cm
Réunion des Musées Nationaux
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One of my very favorite paintings is Maerten van Heemskerck's "The Triumph of Silenus"(c. 1536), also known as "Triumphal Procession of Bacchus." It's a surprising departure from the artist's usual fare of portraits and religious subjects
khm.at/objektdb/detai…
"Inspired loosely by Roman sarcophagi and by engravings after Mantegna, the composition is a living frieze."
wga.hu/html_m/h/heems…
It's hard to explain exactly what is so appealing about it, but I can say that if this was the cover of a book, I would definitely buy it.
Read 3 tweets
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Anton Domenico Gabbiani
Portrait of Three Musicians of the Medici Court
Italy (c. 1687)
oil on canvas, 141 x 208 cm.
Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence
One of the more frustrating trends I’ve noticed in archives & museum collections is how many paintings that, based on the text descriptions, you would have absolutely no clue that a person of color is in it.
The boy with the parrot was probably the caretaker of the menagerie. The same artist did several other portraits of important servants in the Medici household in groups. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:…
Read 5 tweets

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Gonna do a thread talking about some stuff I've been reading about fat and heteronormative desire now.
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