IMC 2014: Sessions
Session 603: Illuminating the Laity: Illustrated Vernacular Manuscripts in the Late Middle Ages
Tuesday 8 July 2014, 11.15-12.45
Sponsor: | School of History, Queen Mary, University of London |
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Organiser: | Federico Botana, School of History, Queen Mary, University of London |
Moderator/Chair: | Kathryn Gerry, Department of Art History, University of Kansas |
Paper 603-a | The Illustrations of the Fior di Virtù (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - General, Education, Language and Literature - Italian, Manuscripts and Palaeography |
Paper 603-b | Evolving Authorities: The Roman de la Rose (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - General, Education, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Manuscripts and Palaeography |
Paper 603-c | Braided Literacies: Learning and Devotion in La somme le roi (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - General, Education, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Manuscripts and Palaeography |
Abstract | This session explores the functions of illustrations in manuscripts of vernacular didactic texts produced in France and Italy in the late Middle Ages. Vernacular texts and visual imagery played fundamental roles in the education of the laity. Didactic poems, moral treatises, fables, and lives of saints were enlivened by ingenious visual programmes which made their contents accessible to readers. Illustrative cycles acted as visual glosses, helping readers to grasp and memorise moral and religious precepts. |