York Festival of Ideas The Art of the Bible: Illuminated Manuscripts (2017)
12 June 2017; Ron Cooke Hub, University of York
On the morning of Monday 12 June 2017, British Library curators , Dr Kathleen Doyle (Lead Curator for Illuminated Manuscripts) and Dr Scot McKendrick (Head of Western Heritage Collections) gave a seminar to students and staff on Public Engagement at the Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS) at Kings Manor, University of York. It was organised and chaired by Dr Hanna Vorholt (Department of History of Art, University of York). Whilst aimed at students and staff in, the talk was free and open to all.
As part of the University of York’s Festival of Ideas in 2017, members of the University’s Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS), Dr Hanna Vorholt and Professor Christopher Norton (both Department of History of Art) and Professor Craig Taylor (Department of History) joined British Library curators Dr Kathleen Doyle (Lead Curator for Illuminated Manuscripts) and Dr Scot McKendrick (Head of Western Heritage Collections) for a roundtable discussion on ‘The Art of the Bible: Illuminated manuscripts’. The event took place on Monday 12 June in the Ron Cooke Hub at the University, and discussion focused particularly on Dr McKendrick and Dr Doyle’s recent publication The Art of the Bible: Illuminated Manuscripts from the Medieval World (Thames & Hudson, 2016).
QUOTE:
Their book seeks to immerse readers in the world of illuminated manuscripts of the Bible, transporting them across one thousand years, passing through many of the major centres of the Christian world. Starting in Constantinople in the East, the journey takes you throughout Europe and beyond, including manuscripts from Lindisfarne, Mozarabic Spain, Crusader Jerusalem, northern Iraq, Paris, London, Bologna, Naples, Bulgaria, the Low Countries, Rome and Persia. The journey ends in Gondar, the capital of imperial Ethiopia.
Festival of Ideas description
The event offered audience members the opportunity to immerse themselves in some of the richly illuminated manuscripts from the British Library that were included in the book and in an accompanying ‘3Sixty exhibition’.
As well as this event for the Festival of Ideas, Dr Doyle and Dr McKendrick gave a seminar on Public Engagement to CMS students and staff earlier in the day.
Miniature of David and Bathsheba, with miniatures of St Paul and the virtues and vices, c. 1410 –c. 1430, illumination on parchment; from BL Add MS 18850, f. 96r (the 'Bedford Hours'). Held and digitised by the British Library. (Courtesy of the British Library; Public Domain via Wikimedia)
Main image: Detail of marginalia showing Ast Paul and virtues, from a Miniature of David and Bathsheba, with miniatures of St Paul and the virtues and vices, c. 1410 –c. 1430, illumination on parchment; from BL Add MS 18850, f. 96r (the 'Bedford Hours'). Held and digitised by the British Library. (Courtesy of the British Library; Public Domain via Wikimedia)