Abstract
This chapter examines three illustrated vernacular manuscripts of Suso's Scientia: 1) Munich Staatsbibliothek Codex Gall. 28 fol. 5v; 2) Brussels, Bibliotheque Royale, MS . IV III , fol. 95; 3) British Library, Additional MS 37049. All three manuscripts, illustrate vernacular translations - the Munich and Brussels manuscripts in French, the British Library manuscript in Middle English - but they derive from three very different cultural and artistic contexts, a difference that impacts the decisions the illustrators make in visualizing Suso's Imago Mortis. The Munich manuscript provides evidence of an artist with access to high-quality exemplars, but working for a general audience and not for specific patrons. The Brussels manuscript, on the other hand, contains a lavishly illustrated cycle of images, produced for a patron with expensive tastes. The British Library manuscript is a fascinating and complex English Carthusian miscellany (1460-70) into which a Middle English prose translation of Suso's text has been integrated.Keywords:British Library manuscript; Brussels manuscript; De Scientia; dying; Henry Suso; Munich manuscript
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have