Archivist Talk: Exploring Illuminated Manuscripts at the Figge Art Museum -- August 8.
Thursday, August 8, 6:30 p.m.
Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA
Held in conjunction with the venue's current Illumination: Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts from the Figge Collection, an August 8 Archivist Talk at Davenport's Figge Art Museum will feature an exploration of the exhibition by the University of Iowa Special Collections and Archives' J. Eric Ensley, the curator of rare books and maps who will offer fascinating insight into the collection and care of illuminated manuscripts.
The Figge’s collection of works in the Illumination exhibition includes examples of musical notation for Gregorian chants, a page from a Benedictine Psalter, and several examples of pages from a book of hours, as well as illustrations of Indian battle scenes. The text on these pages includes inscriptions in Latin, Devanagari script, and Arabic. Translations of each page are included with the label information for each work, as are recordings of the songs indicated in the musical notation. Meanwhile, the decorations in the margins of Illumination's featured books include beautifully intricate paintings which illustrate the text written on the page. These illustrations were often created from pigments sourced from semi-precious materials such as lapis lazuli, and were often highlighted with gold leaf. “In today’s terms, these manuscripts are the Ferrari of the Medieval world,” said Illumination's Senior Co-Curator Joshua Johnson. “They were crafted by hand and were very expensive to produce since it was before the creation of the printing press.”
Leading the Figge's latest Archivist Talk, Dr. J. Eric Ensley is Curator of Rare Books and Maps in the Special Collections & Archives at the University of Iowa, where he works to make rare materials better accessible to students, faculty, and researchers across the campus and beyond. He holds a PhD in English from Yale University and an MLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A book historian by training, Dr. Ensley's research focuses on the intersection of pre-modern culture and the material book, particularly how users of early books imagined themselves within documents, letters, manuscripts, and early printed materials. He is always eager to talk with students and faculty about how Special Collections can assist in their research through consultations and access to rare materials.
The Archivist Talk with J. Eric Ensley will take place on August 8, participation in the 6:30 p.m. event is free, and the Illumination: Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts from the Figge Collection exhibit will be on display in the museum's Lewis Gallery through August 11. For more information, call (563)326-7804 and visit FiggeArtMuseum.org.
