Dark ages visual resources?
February 18, 2020 11:38 AM Subscribe
I've been on a dark ages history jag recently - reading some but also listening to history podcasts. These are great but I would really like some visual resources to go along with it....
Do you know of a particular collection of dark/middle ages art with commentary (or not) that you liked? Or a good (and as accurate as we can be) documentary or even movie set in these times that's at least somewhat reliable and not total fantasy or fiction? The years in question I'm really interested in would be 500 CE to 1300 CE.
Do you know of a particular collection of dark/middle ages art with commentary (or not) that you liked? Or a good (and as accurate as we can be) documentary or even movie set in these times that's at least somewhat reliable and not total fantasy or fiction? The years in question I'm really interested in would be 500 CE to 1300 CE.
I'm going to give a mild twitch and suggest that the phrase you are looking for is "Early Medieval" and indeed if you're going to 1300 "High Medieval".
Now I've got that out of my system, Botanizer has a good start. When you say collection, are you looking for books or websites? And what sort of level would you prefer? Are you interested in particular geographical areas or time periods? Or particular types of art?
I mean, I could reccomend the excellent, massive (like, so big you have to read it resting on a table or in your lap big) well-illustrated and highly academic book on the Staffordshire Hoard, but I suspect that might be a bit hardcore.
I wonder if your best bet is figuring out which bits you're interested in, and then looking for exhibition catalogues/websites. For example, the RA's Byzantium or the British Library's Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms are beautifully illustrated, with commentary.
posted by Vortisaur at 12:38 PM on February 18, 2020 [2 favorites]
Now I've got that out of my system, Botanizer has a good start. When you say collection, are you looking for books or websites? And what sort of level would you prefer? Are you interested in particular geographical areas or time periods? Or particular types of art?
I mean, I could reccomend the excellent, massive (like, so big you have to read it resting on a table or in your lap big) well-illustrated and highly academic book on the Staffordshire Hoard, but I suspect that might be a bit hardcore.
I wonder if your best bet is figuring out which bits you're interested in, and then looking for exhibition catalogues/websites. For example, the RA's Byzantium or the British Library's Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms are beautifully illustrated, with commentary.
posted by Vortisaur at 12:38 PM on February 18, 2020 [2 favorites]
Here's a descriptive link of The Last Kingdom Last Kingdom This tv series covers the reign of King Alfred to Ethelred the Unready. It follows the historical account pretty nicely. It's very violent, like Game of Thrones, but sticks much more to contemporaneous beliefs and no fantasy characters.
A couple of good historians are Neil Oliver and Michael White, who do a lot of archeological chasing of historical characters. They have a lot of very watchable series on European history. As does a series called Time Team, where they do a series of digs all over for different historical periods, and reconstructions of lifestyles by experts. All free and easily available in bits on YouTube with a dedicated search under their names.
posted by effluvia at 1:26 PM on February 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
A couple of good historians are Neil Oliver and Michael White, who do a lot of archeological chasing of historical characters. They have a lot of very watchable series on European history. As does a series called Time Team, where they do a series of digs all over for different historical periods, and reconstructions of lifestyles by experts. All free and easily available in bits on YouTube with a dedicated search under their names.
posted by effluvia at 1:26 PM on February 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
The BBC documentary Dark Ages: An Age of Light gives a decent (AFAICT) overview of art & architecture in the period, and you can stream via Amazon Prime. Plus it’s hosted by Waldemar Januszczak who’s up there with Lucy Worsley (if not the sainted Attenborough) on my BBC presenter ranking.
posted by scyllary at 6:19 PM on February 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by scyllary at 6:19 PM on February 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
The British Library's digital collection of illuminated manuscripts: tours, curator's introduction.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 6:53 AM on February 19, 2020
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 6:53 AM on February 19, 2020
One of the textbooks for my Romanesque and Medieval Art class was "Snyder's Medieval Art", and I know you can find used copies of it online for around $25. It was also available to check out of my local library, so maybe look there?
I also got a lot of information from Images in Ivory (https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691016108/images-in-ivory) which I also got from the library.
We studied page after page of the Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hours_of_Jeanne_d%27Evreux) which is at the Cloisters in New York (https://www.metmuseum.org/visit/plan-your-visit/met-cloisters)
Lastly, the Musee Cluny website doesn't have much english, but you can poke around a bit of their collection and the bibliography.
posted by Phyllis keeps a tight rein at 2:16 PM on February 19, 2020
I also got a lot of information from Images in Ivory (https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691016108/images-in-ivory) which I also got from the library.
We studied page after page of the Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hours_of_Jeanne_d%27Evreux) which is at the Cloisters in New York (https://www.metmuseum.org/visit/plan-your-visit/met-cloisters)
Lastly, the Musee Cluny website doesn't have much english, but you can poke around a bit of their collection and the bibliography.
posted by Phyllis keeps a tight rein at 2:16 PM on February 19, 2020
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posted by Botanizer at 11:55 AM on February 18, 2020