| Description |
1 online resource (xii, 188 pages) : illustrations (chiefly color) |
| Physical Medium |
polychrome |
| Description |
text file |
| Note |
Published in conjunction with the exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from June 2 to August 23, 2009. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. |
| Contents |
Strokes of genius: the draftsman's art in the Middle Ages / Melanie Holcomb. |
| Summary |
Discusses the techniques, uses, and aesthetics of medieval drawings; and reproduces work from more than fifty manuscripts produced between the ninth and early fourteenth century. |
|
What is distinctive about medieval drawings? How do they differ from Renaissance drawings, which have shaped our definition and perception of the form? Why were drawings so often chosen to illustrate manuscripts and how did they evolve throughout the period? Who were the artists responsible for them? These and other questions are addressed in this volume, which accompanies a major exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that is the first to consider the accomplishments of the medieval draftsman in depth. Drawings appear with surprising frequency in the Middle Ages, and were considered fitting for the embellishment of important and lavish books as well as for humbler tomes. The drawings were accomplished with a broad array of inventive techniques, as artists explored the possibilities of line, often playing it off painted and gilded elements. Drawings maintained a symbiotic relationship with writing, were valued for their clarity, and sometimes for their seeming attestation of direct observation. Medieval drawings exist in a wide variety of forms, occurring in bound manuscripts as well as in independent sheets, examples of which are included in this volume: drawings a l'antique, evoking classical style; illustrations of classical texts; bestiaries with pictures of real and imaginary, familiar and exotic animals; maps that highlight man-made and natural wonders; cosmological diagrams with representations of the zodiac; charts of many kinds; legal documents; model books with sketches; exegetical treatises in graphic form; and scientific illustration. It is through scrutiny of these drawings in all their rich variety that we gain insight into the creative and intellectual concerns of medieval artists, patrons, and readers. |
| Local Note |
Metropolitan Museum of Art Watson Library Digital Collections Fulltext Titles (Customizable) |
| Subject |
Drawing, Medieval -- Exhibitions.
|
|
Drawing, Medieval. |
| Genre/Form |
Exhibition catalogs.
|
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Exhibition catalogs.
|
| Added Author |
Bessette, Lisa.
|
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Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
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| Other Form: |
Print version: Holcomb, Melanie. Pen and parchment. New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art ; New Haven : Yale University Press, ©2009 9781588393180 (DLC) 2009015081 (OCoLC)262432390 |
| ISBN |
9781588393180 (Metropolitan Museum of Art (hc) |
|
1588393186 (Metropolitan Museum of Art (hc) |
|
9780300148947 (Yale University Press (hc) |
|
0300148941 (Yale University Press (hc) |
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