Illuminating the Medieval Hunt
April 18 through August 10, 2008
The most influential medieval treatise on hunting was Le Livre de la chasse, written by Gaston Phoebus between 1387 and 1389. The forty-six surviving manuscripts and numerous printed editions of the text testify to its popularity. The Morgan Library & Museum is fortunate in possessing one of the two most luxuriously illustrated manuscripts; the other, in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, was made at the same time and also contains eighty-seven miniatures. Both were made in Paris about 1407 and were probably commissioned by John the Fearless. Since the manuscript had to be disbound—for reasons of conservation and the preparation of a facsimile—the Morgan has decided to exhibit as many leaves with miniatures as possible, providing the public a unique opportunity to "walk" through the manuscript as well as to turn the pages of the facsimile. Four parts of the exhibition shows miniatures from the four books of the treatise, which deal with gentle an d wild animals, the nature and care of dogs, instructions to hunters with dogs, and the use of various snares and crossbows by hunters. Visitors can leaf through a copy of the facsimile and compare these images with those in other original manuscripts and early printed editions that demonstrate how hunting themes made their way into a broader cultural context in religious literature as well as secular texts. About two dozen manuscripts and printed books, dating from the eleventh to the sixteenth century, are on display.
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Illuminating the Medieval Hunt is made possible by a generous gift from Melvin R. Seiden and by the Janine Luke and Melvin R. Seiden Fund for Exhibitions and Publications.
Faksimile Verlag Luzern is the corporate sponsor.
Family and Adult Workshops
Family Workshop
Dogs, Deer, and a Dab of Gold
In conjunction with the exhibition Illuminating the Medieval Hunt, participants will play a card game that will entail exploring medieval forests and mountains in search of wild boars, wild cats, deer, bears, wolves, and mountain goats. They will make paint with ingredients and tools familiar to the artist in the exhibition. They will then use their paint and a little bit of genuine gold leaf to create their own illuminations as in Le Livre de la chasse, the manuscript featured in the exhibition.
Appropriate for children ages 6–12.
Saturday, May 17, 2 to 4 p.m.
Tickets (per family; with two adults): $12 for Non-Members; $8 for Members; additional adults: $10 for Non-Members; $7 for Members
Adult Workshop
Of the Iris for the Book
Step into an illuminator's world with Karen Gorst, calligrapher and illuminator, and explore some of the materials, tools, and techniques of the medieval apprentice. Using recipes from the 1300s, participants will learn to apply gold leaf and to make colors and paint from semiprecious stones, earth, plants, and animals. Participants turn purple liquid extracted from irises into green paint and discover other wellkept secret recipes. The workshop will end with a gallery tour focusing on how the colors and materials used influenced the making of the Le Livre de la chasse, the fourteenth-century manuscript featured in the exhibition, Illuminating the Medieval Hunt.
Friday, June 6, 6:30 p.m.
Tickets: $15 for Non-Members: $10 for Members
 Lecture Series
Costume of the Late Middle Ages
Anne Van Buren
Art historian Anne Van Buren will deliver three illustrated talks sponsored by the Morgan's prestigious Franklin Jasper Walls Lecture Fund. These lectures are the result of more than twenty-five years of research on medieval illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and panel painting. Van Buren's study is the subject of forthcoming Morgan exhibition and publication.
Series of 3 lectures: $35 for Non-Members; $25 for Members
The Role of Dress in Society
Thursday, May 15, 6:30 p.m.
Single ticket: $15 for Non-Members; $10 for Members
Did They Wear What We See?
Thursday, May 22, 6:30 p.m.
Single ticket: $15 for Non-Members; $10 for Members
The Function of Dress in Art
Thursday, May 29, 6:30 p.m.
Single ticket: $15 for Non-Members; $10 for Members
For press tickets to any of the above programs, please contact Sandra Ho, (212) 590-0311, sho@themorgan.org.
Support for the Morgan's public programs is provided by the Achelis Foundation.
Visit our online exhibition featuring
Image captions:
Hunting Party Pursuing Wild Boar (detail), Gaston Phoebus, Le Livre de la chasse, in French, France, Paris, ca. 1407, The Morgan Library & Museum; MS M.1044 (fol. 64). Bequest of Clara S. Peck, 1983. Image courtesy of Faksimile Verlag Luzern, www.faksimile.ch.
Cassamus Upsetting Chess Game (detail), from Jacques de Longuyon, Voeux du paon, illuminated be Piérart dou Tielt?, Belgium, Tournai?, ca. 1350, The Morgan Library & Museum; MS G. 24 (fol 25v). |
