Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Image du Monde
(Manuscripts and Rare Books, Medieval Europe )
This manuscript, which is dated in a colophon to 1489, is one of the three known fifteenth-century copies of a rare vernacular cosmography originally composed in verse under the title "Image du Monde" (The Mirror of the World) in Lorraine dialect ca. 1245-46. The manuscript provides descriptions of the seven liberal arts along with astronomical theories, especially about the earth, the creatures that inhabit it, and its movements within the universe. Each one of the liberal arts is illustrated with a small miniature in grisaille, and extraordinary geometric astronomical diagrams recur throughout the book. The importance of W.199 is both textual and pictorial. Illuminated by followers of Willem Vrelant, active in Bruges 1454-1481, the manuscript reveals affinity of format and content with a 1464 copy of the Mirror of the World made in Bruges (London, British Library, Royal 19 A.IX).
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Gruel and Engelmann Collection, Paris, late 19th-early 20th century [1]; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
[1] Their bookplateon front flyleaf inscribed "No. 76"
Exhibitions
| 2014 | Seeing Music in Medieval Manuscripts. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 2001-2002 | Expanding World Views: A Millennium of Maps. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 2002 | Medieval Mastery, Book Illumination from Charlemagne to Charles the Bold (Meesterlijke Middeleeuwen). Stedelijik Museum Vander Kelen-Mertens, Leuven. |
| 1992 | A World of Foreign Lands. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1988 | Heavenly Bodies. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1984-1985 | Illuminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces in Miniature. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1977-1978 | Splendor in Books. Grolier Club, New York; The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| Treatment | binding stabilized; examined for digitization; media consolidation |
Geographies
Belgium, Bruges (Place of Origin)
Measurements
Folio H: 11 × W: 8 3/8 in. (27.9 × 21.3 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
W.199