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COLOUR The Art & Science of Illuminated Manuscripts - Anne Maria Clarke @ the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge UK

11/27/2016

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COLOUR The Art & Science of Illuminated Manuscripts Anne Maria Clarke @ The Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge UK

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Whilst in Cambridge yesterday I had the unexpected pleasure of both discovering and attending this beautiful exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum. Someone told me about it a couple of months ago but it slipped my mind - then, upon arriving in the city my attention was immediately grabbed by the exquisite exhibition poster displayed on the railings opposite Kings College. 
 
Created to coincide with the museum's 200th anniversary - this free exhibition features 150 treasures - some never displayed to the public before - from the coveted collection of illuminated manuscripts said to be the most extensive in the entire world.

The exhibition opened on the 30th July and has just been extended - due to popular demand - until the 21st January 2017 so there is still chance to see it if this is your cup of tea.

From these precious pages - and not withstanding the oral tradition - some of the greatest wisdoms and sacred teachings of the past have been brought down to us - without them - says Professor John Lowden of the Coutauld Institute of Art,

'..we would know nothing of Socrates or Aristotle, nothing of Jesus or Mohammed...'

The first illuminated Christian manuscripts were brought to England in 597 by Benedictine monks from Italy charged with converting the population to the new religion. The lavishly decorated images, depicting scenes from the gospels easily conveyed the stories to the vast majority of people who couldn't read.

They are things of great beauty too - whose content Germaine Greer tells us, not only decorated but venerated and '
added weight to the word of God.'

The science of this unique decorative style is a theme of the exhibition which tells the story of the manuscripts construction from the creation of the different parchments utilising various animal skins - through to the sourcing of pigments and their different preparations.

Many years ago I read the novel -
The Colour of Heaven - by James Runcie which tells an imaginative tale of a young adventurer - slightly reminiscent of Paolo Coelho's Alchemist - setting off from Venice in the Middle Ages in quest of the rare Lapis Lazuli - only to be found in distant Afghanistan. It is this precious blue stone - more costly even than gold that became the colour of heaven in medieval art - and the colour most often chosen to adorn the Virgin Mary as we see in the exhibition's main poster. There is much gold too on display and silver leaf creating the highly prized illuminations which were said to glow and shimmer in the candle light as Mass was being said and sung.

Such images - as the exhibition audio guide explains - were not just meant to viewed once or indeed viewed quickly - they were intended more as meditations to be contemplated slowly and repeatedly - their aim being to draw the observer in and beyond themselves - toward that which is sacred and transcendent.

Alongside the illuminations from the bible there are pages from various versions of the devotional Book of Hours as well as other sacred texts from around the world including an exquisite Byzantine Gospel book, an Ottoman Qur'an and huge alchemical scroll depicting the transformation of 'base' metals into 'noble' ones.

In the later middle ages of course, illuminated manuscripts were commissioned by wealthy merchants and the like who set their artists to the creation of books with more secular themes and some of these are featured in the exhibition too. It was an art that flourished between c. 600 – 1600 but it would not withstand the coming of Gutenburg and the printing press in the mid 15th together with the impending rise of Protestantism in northern Europe and its disdain for the excesses of Catholic art - of which the heavily embossed hand made illuminations were seen as indicative.

Pondering this vast collection one can't help wondering how the Fitzwilliam museum came to be in possession of it? Part of the answer seems to be that after the reformation which in England involved the destruction and pillaging of monasteries and churches throughout the land, many of the most treasured manuscripts mysteriously fell into the hands of the Protestant universities and particularly the University of Cambridge. Whatever we may feel about this historic appropriation - the good news is that under the universities care these fragile pages have been  painstakingly preserved and restored for posterity as part of our collective heritage and although the majority must now be viewed in a secular setting, through protective glass and in semi- darkened conditions - they are still thankfully in existence - still wonders for us all to behold! 

much love

Anne Maria Clarke

x x x
 

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Subscribe to Anne Maria Clarke's YouTube channel
http://www.youtube.com/c/annemariaclarke

More fairy-stories, myths & legends by
Anne Maria Clarke 

​http://www.archivepublishing.co.uk
​
www.annemariaclarke.net

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The Wooing of Crythor - adapted and narrated by Anne Maria Clarke

11/3/2016

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The Wooing of Crythor adapted & narrated by Anne Maria Clarke  Featuring AN SPEIC SEOIGHEACH  arranged & performed by Matt Francis with Chris Chambers. Produced by David Johnson

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This short tale belongs to a cluster of magical stories from around the world concerning the adventures of ordinary mortals who somehow cross over into the land of Faerie - where everything is different and time as it is known to us here, ceases to have any meaning. J.R.Tolkien, who himself wrote several short tales on this theme, most notably Smith of Wootton Major has called it the Perilous Realm where one can become irretrievably lost - like Tam Lin in the famous Scottish ballad, who is captured by the Fairy Queen or Thomas the Rhymer who falls willingly under her spell and disappears for seven years.

 And see not ye that bonnie road, Which winds about the fernie brae?
That is the road to fair Elfland, Whe[re] you and I this night maun gae.
 But Thomas, ye maun hold your tongue,Whatever you may hear or see,
For gin ae word you should chance to speak, You will neer get back to your ain countrie.

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The Irish tell of another world too called Tir Nag Nog  - land of Eternal Youth, located beneath the hills - where the Tuatha de Dannon, the old gods of Ireland have their ancient home - and where Oisin went to live with his beloved Niamh for three hundred years, not realising so much time was passing by until he returned homesick only to discover that the great race of the Fianna was lost and gone and the once proud people had fallen into forgetfulness. Niamh, his beloved wife had warned him that if he stepped down from his horse – and placed his feet upon mortal ground he would never be able to return to Tir Na Nog– but he does he heed her caution and steps onto the beach – where upon the full weight of time falls down upon him and in a few short moments his youth is lost and he is transformed into an old, old man.

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The Welsh have their own version of the other-world called Annwn - where the Cauldren of inspiration may be found.Taliesin the great Welsh bard and seven of his brave men are said to have journeyed there on a great quest. After many days and nights of searching they came at last into the enchanted realm.
And there they were without stint and joyful. And not withstanding all the sorrows they had seen before their eyes and not withstanding that they themselves had suffered there came to to them no remembrance of this, or of any other sorrow in the world - and the sweet birds of goddess Rhiannan sang to them throughout and each song they heard - it was more lovely than before and very soon they no longer noticed the passing of time, nor could any tell of his fellow that he had grown older during that period.
But at the end of this wonderous span one of the seven is tempted to look through a forbidden door that leads back into the world - Oh and when he looked - he was conscious of every loss he had ever sustained and of every friend and kinsman he had missed and so were the remaining seven also. And straight away they made haste fom that place – which faded swiftly from view like a dream of the soul.
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In the tale feautured here Crythor, a plain and ordinary Welsh man is drawn close to the faerie realm by his great love of music and finds himself suddenly in the company of a great troupe of fairy folk and their illustrious Queen who accompanies him on her golden fiddle and with whom he falls hopelessly in love and abandoning himself utterly... he leaps into her magic dancing ring ....
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Some say such stories are cautionary tales - and the truth is that they are often fraught with danger ...and we should keep our wits about us.

But who in truth would resist the call of Faerie if it came - and who amongst us would really wish to do so? For then we would be living only half a life wouldn't we - impervious to the great beauty of those magical realms  that sing to us from beyond our everyday? 

much love

Anne Maria Clarke

x x x

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References:
Thomas the Rhymer - extract
Taliesin - The Mabinigion - extract

Subscribe to Anne Maria Clarke's YouTube channel
http://www.youtube.com/c/annemariaclarke

More fairy-stories, myths & legends by
Anne Maria Clarke 

​http://www.archivepublishing.co.uk
​
www.annemariaclarke.net




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    Anne Maria Clarke is a storyteller, writer, & teacher of myths, legends & fairy - stories.

    https://twitter.com/MariaClarke
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