@medievalpoc / medievalpoc.tumblr.com
Anonymous (Braunschweig)
Carved Predalla with Saint Maurice
Germany (c. 1519)
Polychrome and Gilded Wood (Saint Maurice), 64 x 40 cm.
WIENHAUSEN., Klosterkirche. Damenchor.
The Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University
Mmmmmm…..Braunschweig.
Andrea Brustolon
Black Warrior
Italy (c. 1715)
Carved Ebony, 270 cm.
Venezia, Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca'Rezzonico. Salone da Ballo.
The Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University
Juan de Balmaseda
Carved Predella: Adoration of the Magi
Spain (c. 1516-1525)
Polychrome Wood, 68 x 83 cm.
Palencia, Seo. Capilla de San Ildefonso.
The Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University
Anonymous German Artist
Altarpiece with the Virgin Mary and Saint Maurice
Germany (c. 1490)
Polychrome and Gilded Wood, 60 cm. (Saint Maurice)
Delligsen, Evangelische Kirche St. Georg.
The Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University
Anonymous German Illuminator
Drawing of a Reliquary for the Abbey of Halle-Saint Maurice
Germany (1525)
Illumination on Parchment (full page), 350 x 250 mm.
Aschaffenburg, Hofbibliothek.
Liber Ostensionis Hallesche Heiltumsbuch ) (428ff.). Folio 174 sup v . Full page: Drawing of a reliquary for the Abbey of Halle, decorated with sundry statuettes, including one of Saint Maurice.
The Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University
Anonymous (Lower Saxony)
Saint Maurice (between Saints Anthony and James the Greater)
Germany (c. 1480)
Polychrome and Gilded Wood (right wing), 125 x 65 cm.
The Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University
To commemorate Black History Month in the United Kingdom, today we remember one of the first Africans to live in Anglo-Saxon England. The man in question was Hadrian (d. 709), the abbot of St Peter’s and St Paul’s at Canterbury, who played a pivotal role in the development of the early Anglo-Saxon Church.
Read More at the British Library Medieval Manuscripts Blog!
Grandes Chroniques de France [Royal MS G VI]
f. 168v, Charlemagne besieging Agolant in Agen (Charlemagne, book 4, 4) and f. 167r, f. 167r. Agolant and his Moors attack a castle (Charlemagne, book 4, 3).
France (1332-1350)
Parchment codex; 390 x 280 mm (text space: 255 x 190 mm).
British Library, London.
The Adoration of the Magi
Netherlands (c. 1560s)
photos via supernaut.info
Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s paintings are famous for their depictions of 16th century peasant life in the Low Countries. He was nicknamed “Peasant Brueghel” for his habit of dressing down to crash weddings and other celebrations in the countryside to glean information and inspiration for his artworks.
Manufacture Royale de Gobelins, Paris
Les Anciennes tentures des Indes, after a design by Albert Eckhout and Frans Post
France (c.1640-1692)
N. K. Jemisin, “How Long ’til Black Future Month?” (September 30th, 2013)
This essay definitely stands the test of three years, and I highly recommend reading the whole thing. It’s spectacular.
(via medievalpoc)
Medievalists of Color (MOC)
Black Perspectives (blog of the African American Intellectual History Society)
EIDOLON (also on twitter and FB)
feministkilljoys (blog of Sara Ahmed)
Race & Ethnicity (site of the MLA Committee on the Literatures of People of Color)
Anonymous German Artist
Fragment of a Retable: Saint Maurice
Germany (1517)
Oil on Wood, 77 x 43.5 cm.
Alterode, Kirche.
The Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University
Portrait of Kalmyk Girl Annushka
Russia (1767)
Annushka, a Kalmyk girl of Western Mongolian ancestry, was a serf and pupil of Countess Varvara Sheremeteva, daughter of Count Sheremetev. Argunov himself was a serf of Count Sheremetev (1713-1788). Annushka is holding a portrait of the late Countess.
Nikolaus Glockendon I
Underbar F With Saint Maurice
Germany (1524)
Illumination on Parchment, 385 x 280 mm.
Illumination. Missal of Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg (572 ff.). Folio 381 sup v :/ Decorated initial underbar F with Saint Maurice.
lluminator active in Nuremburg. Pupil of Albrecht Dürer. His major works, among them the Missal of Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg, are often based on works by Dürer, Martin Schongauer and Lucas Cranach.
Image of the Black in Western Art (Harvard University)
Aurora Consurgens (att: St. Thomas Aquinas or “Pseudo-Aquinas”)
f. 34v: Black Female Angel
Germany (c. 1420s)
Parchment Codex with Watercolor Miniatures, 20.4 x 13.9 cm.
Zürich, Zentralbibliothek.
This is one of those manuscript miniatures that is so beautiful and strange, it’s hard to believe it’s really as old as it is. Aurora Consurgens is an alchemical treatise; a commentary on the Latin translation of Silvery Waters by Muhammed ibn Umail at-Tamîmî (Senior Zadith), attributed first to Saint Thomas Aquinas and later attributed to “Pseudo-Aquinas”.
The miniatures are unusual not only for their quality, but also for the fact that they’re tiny watercolor paintings on the parchment codex. The whole text has been digitized here, and you can read like you were holding it:
*ETA*
The link has a photo with flash in which you can see the gilded portions a bit better, as well as the ability to zoom in to see the details. For those who were curious, inside the Angel’s body is a sheathed dagger and a coiled serpent:
Cuttings from a treatise on the Seven Vices [Add MS 27695]
Folio 13: Gluttony at a Feast
Italy (c. 1330-40)
Look at all the beautiful medieval instruments in there! The medieval organ (with the poor sod working the bellows)…the double recorder, the psaltery, drums, horns…could be a shawm…and maybe the bowed thing is a vielle? Beautiful!
