Author: A Scholarly Skater
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Initials and Capital Letters – Day 6
Initials – capital letters within manuscripts’ texts – are key venues for decoration, aides in navigating the text, and veritable works of art.
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The Black Hours – Day 5
Today’s post is about a truly stunning manuscript that demonstrates the relatively rare but wonderful phenomenon of manuscripts on colored parchment.
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Text in Manuscripts – Day 4
Art historians primarily see manuscripts as works of art, but we shouldn’t forget that they are also books intended to convey the written word.
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Gargoyles and Grotesques in Quito, Ecuador
You guys should know by now that I love non-European gargoyles, particularly when they take forms distinctly different from what we’re used to seeing. These Ecuadorean gargoyles representing local wildlife certainly fit that bill. Above, we can see several species of bird gargoyles, and below are some other creatures including a pair of alligators. This post on…
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A Fourteenth-Century Italian Choir Book – Day 3
Today’s entry features a page from a 14th-century choir book called an antiphonary. Like most medieval choir books, it’s huge and has big illustrations.
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The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux – Day 2
The early-14th century Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux introduces us to the Book of Hours, surprising scale in manuscripts, and the wacky world of marginalia.
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The Book of Kells – Day 1
It only seems appropriate to start off 31 Days of Medieval Manuscripts with the Book of Kells, arguably the world’s most iconic illuminated manuscript.
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31 Days of Medieval Manuscripts
31 Days of Medieval Manuscripts is a series I wrote in October 2015 as part of my participation in a 31-day bogging challenge. Participants were encouraged to select a specific topic to focus on during the challenge, and I chose medieval manuscripts – a topic I love and studied extensively in college. Every day, I…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Melrose Abbey, Scotland
I’ve recently been reading a book about the history of British myths and legends concerning dragons, so it made sense to me that today’s gargoyle should be from the United Kingdom. I was looking for some sort of dragon-like gargoyle but fell in love with this bagpipe-playing pig instead. Isn’t he charming? I found him via ferrebeekeeper’s blog; look there…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Eastern State Penitentiary, Pennsylvania
I probably should have saved this one for closer to Halloween, but I just couldn’t wait because it’s almost too good to be true. This very threatening-looking, shackled gargoyle can be found on the exterior of the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I’m not sure if the gargoyle is functional or not, but it…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques in Nicosia, Cyprus
Sometimes, I know in advance what I want to feature on Gargoyle of the Day; other times, I simply browse until something strikes my fancy. I might be inspired by an image I come across, or an idea might pique my interest, in which case I look for the most dynamic gargoyles in that category. Today, I saw…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Sagrada Família, Barcelona, Spain
The Sagrada Família (Holy Family) is a Spanish church designed by Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) in the late nineteenth century. It is famous for the sheer exuberance of its design and the abundance of its architectural details. Gaudí’s design was so elaborate, in fact, that the church is still incomplete today. I had never really thought…
