CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The first major exhibition on the visualization of history in medieval French manuscripts, to be held at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, is being co-curated by a faculty member of the University of Illinois.
The exhibition, "Imagining the Past in France, 1250-1500," is a collaboration between Anne D. Hedeman, a professor of art history in the School of Art and Design, a unit in the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the U. of I.; and Elizabeth Morrison, curator of manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum. The exhibition, which runs Nov. 16-Feb. 6, assembles more than 70 rarely seen manuscripts and objects, loaned by 30 museums, libraries and private collections across the U.S. and Europe.
"These manuscripts have been carefully selected to bring together some of the most sophisticated and precious medieval books written in French," said Hedeman, who also holds an appointment in medieval studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Illinois. "The exhibition offers a rare opportunity because books of this caliber are rarely shown in their home countries, let alone the U.S."
Along with manuscripts and examples of early printing the exhibition will include tapestries and other luxury objects that demonstrate how historical stories transcended media and geography to infuse the visual culture of nearby countries, such as England, Italy and Spain.
Reunited for the exhibition will be two volumes of the "Miroir historiale" that have not been displayed together since they were separated during the 15th century.
Among the medieval masterpieces on display will be a Giovanni Boccaccio manuscript with a frontispiece by Jean Fouquet and a moralized Bible painted by the Limbourg brothers. The manuscripts' highly original historical accounts reflected the perspectives of the royal patrons and noblemen who commissioned them and often promoted French nationalism.
"Twenty-first century readers would view some of these books as naïvely subjective, not as 'true history,' " Hedeman said. "In the Middle Ages, there was a great emphasis on history, broadly defined. Arthurian legends, the story of Troy, the Bible and chronicles drawn from diverse sources were all considered history. Our show was set up to visually and structurally reinforce how differently history was conceived in the Middle Ages and how important images were to representing history in French language manuscripts."
The first section of the exhibition is organized around manuscripts developed for royalty and aristocrats, including the "Bible historiale" of Charles V. Also on view will be a copy of Pierre Salmon's "Dialogues," which records possibly fictional conversations between Salmon, the royal secretary, and King Charles VI that were intended to provide the king with moral guidance in ruling the country despite his incapacitating mental illness.
The next three sections of the exhibition - ancient history, Christian history and medieval history - explore how history was conveyed visually in diverse texts, including bibles, Arthurian romances, biographies, chronicles and historical manuscripts. Among the books on display will be a 14th-century copy of the "Mirror of History," which contains more than 700 illustrations, and a 15th-century French translation of Boccaccio's "Concerning the Fates of Illustrious Men and Women."
"The Nine Worthies" section of the exhibition focuses on images of nine great historical heroes from the Bible and the ancient and medieval periods popularized during the early 14th century. Among the items on view will be one of the earliest copies of Jacques de Longuyon's "Voeux du paon" ("Vows of the Peacock"), the text that introduced the heroes as the nine worthies.
The final section of the exhibition comprises objects - including tapestries, metalwork, floor tiles and drinking vessels - that bear lavish illustrations based upon French histories and show how historical stories permeated culture in general. The display will range from large-scale tapestries of Trojan history and the miracles of Saint Quentin to an ivory mirror that depicts a scene from the legend of Tristan and Isolde.
"The illustrations and objects that we picked for display show how carefully these stories were constructed in order to engage viewers and make them look carefully for visual clues. Looking was an important part of reading in the 13th to 16th centuries," Hedeman said.
Artists' depictions of events from the distant past and other lands sometimes show historical figures in surroundings or attire that appeared contemporary. The artists often used the same illustrations repeatedly in different contexts, reinforcing to patrons and viewers their similarity to historical figures and continuity with the past.
"We can learn from looking at medieval visual culture," Hedeman said. "There are analogies to what we do today. By looking at a different culture's treatment of the past, we can gain some insight into ours. That's our ambitious goal for the exhibition - to educate about the past but get people to think about the present."
Hedeman and Morrison decided to collaborate on an exhibition when Hedeman was a guest scholar at the Getty Museum in 2002. In 2004, they began traveling together during summer and winter breaks to examine manuscripts and discuss with curators getting loans for the show.
"There have been a lot of manuscript exhibitions over the years, but they have tended to focus either on countries, such as France, or on styles, such as the Renaissance," Hedeman said.
"When we talked to curators about the show's theme of history, they were very excited because it had not been the subject of a major exhibition. Their generosity and willingness to loan surprised us. We got almost everything we requested. We are very excited about the caliber of books lent for this exhibition. It is a tribute to the Getty's reputation for handling books and mounting creative exhibitions."
Hedeman, a U. of I. faculty member since 1983, has written several books about French manuscripts, including "Translating the Past: Laurent de Premierfait and Boccaccio's 'De casibus' " (Getty Publications, 2008). Hedeman also wrote "Of Counselors and Kings: The Three Versions of Pierre Salmon's 'Dialogues' " (U. of I. Press, 2001) and "The Royal Image: The Illustrations of the Grand Chroniques de France" (University of California Press, 1991).
Hedeman and Elizabeth Morrison collaborated on the catalog for the exhibition, "Imagining the Past in France: History in Manuscript Painting 1250-1500" (Getty Publications, 2010).