Author: Charlotte Simons

It is interesting to me that in Arabic texts, which I am going to assume are mainly in the Muslim tradition, figures, people, and animals are depicted. In both Islam and Judaism it is generally considered idolatrous to depict figures, at least in modernity. I did some reading over winter break about ancient Semitic practices which dated to ~3,000 years ago and the book indicated that ancient Judaism did have some depictions of figures and animals. It is a small leap of faith to say that Islam had the same practices, but I had assumed that around the time of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula (~1440s) the tradition of figurative depiction had long since died out with the Diaspora. It interested me to hear that around the trading posts a century previous and leading up to the Reconquista Semitic texts did include figurative depictions.

 

Of course, this is assuming that most texts being illuminated at the time were religious ones. It would interest me to know the percentage of illumanated texts that are non-religious.

The Secret of Kells is probably one of my favorite films. The way that the story, the colors and the designs all reflect the book that is the subject matter. The art is gorgeous. Learning that it was indeed based on an actual illuminated manuscript was not surprising and added another wonderful layer onto the film. The direct subject matter of the film was about obtaining a magnifying glass in order to be able to complete the book. I have seen illuminated manuscripts in person before, but I never realized how small some of the most common ones are- and I never quite understood the importance of the oculus in the film. After looking at the Book of Hours in class and slides of the real Book of Kells, I understand how laborious, time-consuming, and carpal-tunnel-inducing illuminating actually is.