Once upon a time only dukes, popes, and princesses could hold a priceless artifact like the Oxford Bestiary in their hands. Today, facsimiles allow you to leaf through them — well, at least virtually! So what are you waiting for?
Once upon a time, there was a… snake with two heads? A Yale on a golden background? This week, I discovered that a masterpiece of the English Gothic can entertain my kids better than any videogame.
Did you ever wonder what Medieval painters used as models? Most of them had never seen exotic animals, and Gothic letters were hard to sketch by memory. One of Milan cathedral’s first architects, Giovannino de’ Grassi, provided them with a model book so splendid it became a work of art in its own right. Scroll down to see the video!
When the Duke of Modena, Borso d’Este, commissioned a lavish, two-volume bible to be illuminated by the best artists of his age, he had a specific political purpose in mind. Scroll down to see the video!
Altough tremendously distinct from all other bestiaries, the five manuscripts of the Third Family (England; 13th century) have received much less scholarly attention than the bestiaries of other families. Ilya Dines discusses their features and origin.