Scrineum Rivista (Nov 2020)
L’enluminure chartraine au XIIe siècle: le légendier illustré de la cathédrale
Abstract
A Legendary, formerly in the cathedral chapter library of Chartres, ms. 500, stood out amongst the manuscripts burnt in 1944. It was a large volume from the mid-12th century, richly illuminated with an exceptional cycle of 55 historiated initials. Thanks to the recovered fragments and pre-war reproductions and descriptions, the sanctoral and its iconography can be examined in relation with the liturgy, relics and the 13th-century stained-glasses in the Chartres cathedral. The early and rare hagiographical scenes raise a question of their possible Byzantine source of inspiration.
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