public domain
Ms. 124 (2022.15), fol. 13v, Iceland, about 1460–1465, Master of the Geneva Boccaccio (French, active about 1445 - 1470)
Los Angeles, Getty Museum shows manuscript from the late Middle Ages
The amazing and the terrifying
From June 11, the exhibition The Book of Marvels: Wonder and Fear in the Middle Ages can be seen at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The focus is on a manuscript from the 1460s, in which bizarre and dangerous creatures from countries known at the time are presented. Medieval thinking about the foreign still shapes Western stereotypes today.
June 11, 2024
Dragons, harpies, griffins, basilisks, sirens: What we encounter today in fantasy literature was considered by many in the Middle Ages to be real creatures that lived in distant lands. Even highly esteemed ancient authors such as Pliny the Elder (23-79 BC) wrote about these and other fascinating and dangerous creatures. Widely known in medieval Europe, but almost forgotten today, are cynocephali (people with dog heads), skiapods (people with one giant foot), blemmyes (headless people with their face on their chest) and panoti (people with huge ears). Many invented travelogues and other writings reported on strange creatures and countries in the Middle Ages. The manuscript Ms. 124 (2022.15) Livre des merveilles du monde (Book of the Marvels of the World) contains references to countries outside of present-day France, where it was produced. It is at the center of the exhibition The Book of Marvels: Wonder and Fear in the Middle Ages at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, which explores an exciting chapter in medieval cultural history. The book and other exhibits are on display from June 11 to August 25.
The manuscript was in the possession of various people in France for centuries. The Getty Museum acquired it in 2022 from a private collection in which it had been held since 1925. It was previously owned by the art historian Count Paul Durrieu. The illustrations are by the Master of Boccaccio of Geneva, a French illuminator who was active in Angers between 1445 and 1470. He produced another version of the book at the same time, MS M.461, which is now in the Morgen Library & Museum in New York City.
public domain
Ms. 124 (2022.15), fol. 5, India, about 1460–1465, Master of the Geneva Boccaccio (French, active about 1445 - 1470)
Dive deeper into the art world
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