![]() ![]() And although the perspectives of women rarely made it into the texts of the Middle Ages, “there are their aspirations and desires that you find in the manuscripts if you pay attention to them.Owing to the time and circumstances of its foundation, the museum holds examples of manuscript illumination exemplifying the revival of interest for anything medieval in the 19th century. “We tend to think in the past they were really misogynistic, but some of these things are still very true today,” she said. Sciacca pointed out that, while women have much greater independence now, many of these expectations of piousness and gender roles remain. There were women artists and patrons who influenced the subjects, a few of whom are named in Illuminating Women. Margaret of York commissioned eight books, one of which is at the Getty and follows a knight who passes out at a dinner party and takes a dream journey through heaven, hell, and purgatory. Jeanne de Montbaston was an illuminator who ran a Paris bookshop with her husband, creating manuscripts in a collaborative process, and got official permission to continue independently after his death. Depictions of Eve and Bathsheba as temptresses similarly warned women on “bad” behavior. Other artwork in Poncher’s book further pointed her to the path expected of a medieval woman, including childbearing through images of Mary - guidance that was, of course, being conveyed by men. When she’s praying with this book, she can really meditate on this image of death.” This book fits in the palm of your hand, it’s quite small, and this was her personal prayer book. “It’s a reminder that even though you’re young and beautiful now, you, too, will die. “She’s kneeling there, in a beautiful gown that gives you a sense of her wealth, her prayer book open, and she’s being loomed over by this horrible specter of death, a skeleton whose flesh is rotten,” Sciacca said. One 16th-century example in Illuminating Women shows Denise Poncher being approached by a skeleton, three corpses in its wake. And sometimes, an image of the reader would be illustrated right in the book. “These things made it much more appealing and understandable to a reader at that time, who could picture themselves in the role of Mary,” Sciacca explained. Yet the saints and biblical figures on their pages weren’t represented in their ancient eras instead, they were illustrated in medieval settings, dressed like their intended readers. Obedience and motherhood are repeating themes, which were reinforced in the pocket-sized books of hours used by medieval women for religious contemplation. “At the same time, we learn a lot about the perceptions of medieval women by medieval society,” Sciacca said. Master of Sir John Fastolf, “Saint Anne Teaching the Virgin to Read” (France, about 1430 – 1440), tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink on parchment Leaf: 4 3/4 × 3 5/8 inches (courtesy the J. A portrait of Saint Anne teaching the Virgin Mary to read - a scene which likely never happened - may have reflected a mother’s interest in literacy for her daughters, while images of peasant women spinning wool offer visual insight into their work in the textile industry. She also authored an accompanying publication that includes manuscripts beyond the around 23 selected objects from the Getty, such as those by late medieval author Christine de Pizan. In images of saints, queens, the Virgin Mary, female martyrs, and aristocratic women who commissioned manuscripts, are traces of their overlooked lives. Paul Getty Museum’s Getty Center in Los Angeles, where she delved into its collection of illuminated manuscripts to find these lost voices of medieval women. Sciacca is the curator of Illuminating Women in the Medieval World, now at the J. “A lot of the records that come down to us were written by men and they’re about men’s deeds.” Paul Getty Museum and now associate curator of European art at the Walters Art Museum, told Hyperallergic. “We don’t have a lot of records of women’s voices in the Middle Ages,” Christine Sciacca, former assistant curator of manuscripts at the J. Master of the Chronique scandaleuse, “Denise Poncher before a Vision of Death” (Paris, France, about 1500), tempera colors, ink and gold on parchment Leaf: (5 1/4 × 3 7/16 inches) (courtesy the J. ![]()
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