Middle ages art!

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Home : 2005 : January : 18

Middle ages art!
By Morgan

Yes there's lots to do with that! I'm a bit biased, being a medievalist though. For a really fun set of medieval pictures, I can't think of anything I like better than the Maciejowski Bible. It contains lavish illustrations
of the Old Testament. It is 13th century and depicts all those biblical events as if they were happening in medieval Europe, at the time, so there are lots of pics of knights in maille from all the wars in the Old Testament, pictures of DAILY LIFE like threshing wheat or masons at work. it is a bit archaic in form but highly detailed also. You might want to be selective with the

plates, some of the battle scenes/executions are gory, and at least one plate has a couple in bed together. The whole book was reprinted in a work called "old testament miniatures' by sydney cockerell (now oop). Many parts can be found online for free. You might want to take something like the Bayeaux tapestry (c. 1070) the mac. bible (c. 1250) and breugal or some such later piece to show changes in art over the years. People tend to forget that the middle ages spans 1000 years of history over an entire continent, and thus have impressions that an awful lot was happening or existing together whne in fact hundreds of miles or years or both may separate them. You could bring that up, even if you don't go wildly in depth with the concept. Other myths about that time could also be dealt with if you felt so inclined. For instance, people bathed A LOT more frequently than they are now given credit for, they ate a rather healthy diet (high in fiber, low in fat) and knights armor and weapons were actually quite lightweight. Hope this helps, email if you want anything else.