Kathedralenbouwers

Basilica di S. Vincenzo in Galliano a Cantù. 

(voor diegenen die enkel het forum lezen, ik heb een YouTube video geplaatst over deze basiliek in de map Kathedralen)

Detail of marginal grotesques of (below) monkeys blowing horns and (above) a winged man with animal legs playing a harp; from the Maastricht Hours, Netherlands (Liège), 1st quarter of the 14th century, Stowe MS 17, f. 61v.

It is a truism, although one that never ceases to surprise, that medieval art – especially manuscript illumination – celebrates the juxtaposition between the sacred and the profane.  The Maastricht Hours is an early 14th-century book of hours made in Liège, and is remarkable for the large number of vibrant illuminations that cover its pages – full-page miniatures, lavishly decorated initials, and countless marginal scenes and grotesques.  A full digital versionof the Maastricht Hours has just been made available on the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts site, and every page has something new to discover.

Leuke ideetjes voor al dan niet middeleeuwse weekends in Frankrijk vind je hier: http://www.52we.com/

Perhaps one of the most remarkable sights in France, a chapel perched on a volcanic plug. This is the Rock of Aiguilhe, on the edge of the town of Puy en Velay, in the Auvergne. The Chapelle Saint-Michel has stood there for 1042 years, since Bishop Gothescalk had it built in 962 on his return from a pilgrimage to Santiago del Compostella in Galicia. In 1955 workers found relics under the alter that had been there since it was built.

Calendar page for January, from the Golf Book (Book of Hours, Use of Rome), workshop of Simon Bening, Netherlands (Bruges), c. 1540, Additional MS 24098, f. 18v

Inderdaad, deze diptieken zijn de voorlopers van wat de Vlaamse Primitieven hebben van gemaakt, dit is vooralsnog mijn favoriet:

Ze vallen netjes in de krijtlijnen, na 500. De romeinse invloed mag niet afwezig zijn op deze club...