Manuscript lesson of the Day! A quickie thread on...evidence of thread! Perusing this early 13C Psalter, and I, very happily, came across these holes, which appear to be curtain holes. bl.uk/manuscripts/Vi… /1
This fall I attended an excellent talk by Morgan Adams, titled, "Hidden in Plain Sight: Identifying Evidence of Curtains in Medieval Manuscripts in the Morgan Library & Museum." I learned new things about how to identify evidence that a MS once contained curtains. /3
One thing I learned is that sewing holes for curtains are different from pricked holes for ruling not only because they're often not in a straight line but ALSO because one may be able to see evidence that the needle pushed into the parchment in diff directions. For example: /4
Here. Now, it's pretty hard to assess from a dig'd MS, but, I feel like I can kind of see puckering around some holes (an indication that a needle pushed thru the parchment from behind) and no puckering around others (the needle pushing thru from this side). Hard to say. But /5
When we can go see--and, really FEEL--manuscripts again, I plan to focus my attention, and the attention of my fingers, and not just my eyes, on these holes to see whether I can detect evidence of a needle pushing into parchment from the recto and the verso. /6
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1. In 1936 art historian & medievalist Meyer Schapiro wrote two articles skewering the racism of his colleagues who claimed that the root of style lay in the race of the artist examined. In one of these, “Race, Nationality, and Art,” he writes abt the danger of this position.
2. It's not a perfect article, it certainly has flaws. But Schapiro knew that he had a responsibility as an art historian to take a stand. The full citation is: Meyer Schapiro, “Race, Nationality, and Art,” Art Front (1936): 10-12.
3. The article is not available on any widely accessible databases. I have uploaded it from a scanned microfilm to my academia edu page. I'll try to find a way to link to it elsewhere this evening of tomorrow. I don't want to drive traffic to my own page; it feels opportunistic.
This is a glorious thread. It’s especially useful to read examples of collegial generosity, the kinds of small gestures it might not occur to us to make, but which mean a lot to the person on the receiving end.
I’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of kindness from senior scholars. And some of the nicest things they ever did for me at conferences was to treat me like a peer over a cup of coffee or glass of wine.
There’s often a weird disconnect in grad school: by the time we get there we’re already adults. In my case I got married the first year of my PhD and had started after a year of working at ABC News. Yet in many ways we go back to being “kids” looking for the approval of profs.
When people speak of "bad" medieval art, or medieval artists who "can't" draw, generally they're referring to the absence of naturalism (portraying things as they "actually look"). But look at this majestic Vierge Ouvrante, pictured here in Elina Gertsman's book _Worlds Within_+
Medieval artists could be masterful conjurors of form for a wide range of effects that just can't be achieved by naturalism. Gertsman spends the length of a book unspooling the many threads of meaning that these sculptures generate. psupress.org/books/titles/9… +
Some artists may have chosen to convey the humanity of Christ by rendering both him and his mother as convincingly as possible, attending to the veins and tendons beneath his once living skin. +
The Sandars Lectures in Bibliography at Cambridge are an amazing honor and have featured extremely important & highly esteemed scholars. It is, nevertheless, worth raising awareness of the fact that since 2000, a mere 3 women have enjoyed this honor. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandars_L…
The last woman to speak was Michelle Brown in 2008-2009.
To raise awareness of this fact is not to dispute the merits of those who have received this honor. But there will always be another deserving man to enjoy this platform. How long must women wait before it is our turn?
Pretty sure I'm just feeling contrarian, but the derisive responses to the restoration of the St George sculpture seem a li'l unfair. There are important patrimony laws in Spain, but at least according to El Mundo it *seems* like the parish ordered it. +
This points to a problem with works held by living institutions and pastoral care of those works. Here, e.g., is a fifteenth-century churchwardens account from St Margaret's Southwark (LMA LMA P92/SAV/001) in which you can see payment for the re-painting of a St George sculpture.
Sculptures were repainted all the time, and in some cases, it was considered a good work. The rules now have changed because we've established categories like "cultural patrimony" that seal off objects in a particular past (which past should that be?).
Confused about what's happening here? Don't be. A medievalist can explain. +
A handy thing in medieval kingship was the use of the queen as intercessor. Women were conventionally ascribed softer hearts and subjects were encouraged to appeal to the queen for mercy.
For example, in 1450, after a revolt known as Cade's Rebellion, King Henry VI offered a pardon to many participants (I mean, he also had many executed, but her pardoned others).