ART+CAYCE

Medieval Book Arts: A Private Collection

Opening Reception Dec 2nd 6-9p

In the Middle Ages books were handmade objects of luxury, meticulously written by professional scribes, then delicately painted in bright colors and “illuminated” with gold that often shines as bright as the day it was applied. “Medieval Book Arts: A Private Collection” presents such lavish medieval books and pages from a private collection in Columbia. Among the rarities on display are a vast mass-book from southern France datable to 1300, a Psalter with gold letters from around 1425, a prayer book with filigree initials painted in liquid gold, and a staggering, bloody Crucifixion scene from medieval Germany. ART+CAYCE will also unveil pages from the St. Albans Abbey Bible, which was made in Paris around 1330; from the Llangattock Breviary, a work commissioned by Leonello d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, in the 1440’s; from a sumptuous Book of Hours once in the possession of François-César le Tellier, the Marquis de Courtanvaux; and from a unique list of holy relics in the church of St. Thiébault, Alsace. Details in these illuminated manuscripts will surprise you: Judas’s bulging purse in a painting of the Last Supper, the fangs of lean-ribbed wolves in a depiction of the Apostles, life-like owls and strawberries in panels from a Book of Hours. “Medieval Book Arts” will captivate anyone interested in medieval art, religion, music, or history.