Presented as the Keynote Lecture for the 17th Annual Marco Symposium.
Among the approximately 130 extant illustrated Apocalypses
(manuscripts of the Book of Revelation) from the Middle Ages, the
Apocalypse of the Duc de Berry, made circa 1415 shortly before the
death of Jean de Berry, is unique in both style and iconography. Even
though it is vividly illustrated with eighty-five miniatures and is
easily accessible in New York at the Pierpont Morgan Library (MS
M.133), the manuscript has received surprisingly little scholarly
attention, being eclipsed by earlier thirteenth-century Anglo-French
manuscripts and the famous Angers Apocalypse Tapestry owned by
Jean’s brother, Louis d’Anjou. This talk will first introduce the
manuscript, focusing on its brilliant stylistic features and unusual
and sometimes eccentric interpretation of Revelation by an artist
named after the manuscript, “The Master of the Berry Apocalypse.”
The talk will then argue that its unique iconography may be understood
as a visual response to the Great Schism (ca. 1378-1417) during which
western Christendom was divided between opposing popes and their
supporters. Studying the manuscript in relation to previous
iconography and within the context of contemporary polemical and
political imagery highlights the uniqueness of the Berry Apocalypse
and its visual exegesis of the crisis of the late medieval Church.
Richard K. Emmerson is Visiting Distinguished Professor of Art History
at Florida State University and Dean Emeritus of Liberal Arts at
Manhattan College. After taking his doctorate at Stanford University,
he chaired the departments of English at Western Washington University
and of art history at Florida State University, worked as Deputy
Director of Fellowships at the National Endowment for the Humanities,
and served as Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America
and Editor of Speculum. His publications include more than fifty
articles studying medieval apocalypticism, drama, illustrated
manuscripts, and visionary poetry, and seven books including
Antichrist in the Middle Ages: A Study of Medieval Apocalypticism,
Art, and Literature, The Apocalyptic Imagination in Medieval
Literature (with Ronald Herzman), and The Apocalypse in the Middle
Ages (edited with Bernard McGinn). His most recent book is Apocalypse
Illuminated: The Visual Exegesis of Revelation in Medieval Illustrated
Manuscripts. A Fellow of the Medieval Academy, in 2009 he received its
Award for Excellence in Teaching Medieval Studies.
culture
1266
Views
04/04/2020 Last update