大英博物馆：讲故事的中世纪神话艺术

by Chantry Westwell, 钱特里·韦斯特维尔, 徐栩 (Translator)

钱特里·韦斯特维尔凭借其对大英图书馆馆藏手抄本的深入了解，引领我们探索了一些西方文学史上饱受赞誉、内容精彩丰富的故事，以及这些故事最初被保存在书籍或编年史背后的深远历史。中世纪的艺术家们纷纷用自己的杰作对这些或精彩纷呈，或鼓舞人心的故事加以描绘，最终使得这些经典的文学作品与自8世纪至16世纪幸存下来的精美的绘画或书写艺术交相辉映。

本书讲述了40个最为经典的中世纪神话故事，共分为7个部分：英雄人物，史诗战役，奇事与神迹，恶棍、罪案与谋杀，征途和旅程，动物寓言，以及爱情故事。从以亚历山大大帝、查理曼大帝和亨利八世等著名历史人物为主角的复杂而漫长的史诗，到特洛伊战争和亚瑟王之卡梅洛特的传说，本书所涉及的内容全面而精彩，并配有数百张同时期艺术家的精美画作为插图，既讲述了中世纪神话故事背后的文化，展示了中世纪绘画艺术之样貌，也深入探究了这些故事背后的文化与思想。

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Art, Medieval, Mythology, Historical, Reference

440 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 2021

Reviews

[Just Josie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted this book simply for the illustrations alone.

This book was so well put together and held so many little stories. It was so easy to follow and had great translations of words and the accompanying art/pictures/scripts were neatly added to the explanations and retellings.

It can be debated that the chapters could have been a bit longer and be a bit more in depth, but for me it worked well.
Wonderful book.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
ngl it got a but boring after a while because of how many of the stories I already knew but the details about the manuscripts were great

[Lisanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
For the average greek/roman classics and medieval enjoyer most of these stories would already be known to the reader. Some of the chapters tell a general list of what things mean and where it can be found, making the chapters rather dull or very short. The illumination are amazing and were also the primary source as to why I initially bought this book.

[Attila Gáspár · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most beautiful book that I ever had in my possession, and perhaps also the most beautiful book that I ever held in my hands. The visual accomplishment is just breathtaking. The content is also very interesting, but not much more. The individual chapters are summaries of some of the famous individual stories from the Middle Ages, or groups of stories, archetypes, tropes etc. that the reader will be mostly familiar with if above a certain age. Nevertheless, reading through this book while admiring the illustrations was a wonderful experience.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. A really beautiful book, awesome compilation, I learned about some stories I didn't know about.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this because the book itself is a tempting article, with a gorgeous cover and sumptuously reproduced illustrations that are, for obvious reasons, the focus of the text. It is rather amusing to note that all the manuscript art within shares the same ‘Baby’s First Attempt’ aesthetic. It’s weird that within that no one seemed to progress technique in art for like, several centuries.

For the most part, I knew all the cultural, mythological, and actual history that Westwell reproduces in bite-size, unstylish chunks. For this is, at the end of the day, a small coffee table book, designed to flip through and marvel at what people in 1340 thought feet looked like. I did learn that unicorn is a mis-translation of a Hebrew word for ox, which explains why they showed up so much in the Bible. This might be a nice gift or display book, but it is not one for serious scholars or enthusiastic amateurs on any of the subjects within. Which is fine! Not everything has to be.

[Simon Dobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love mediaeval illumination, this book is a feast. It covers a huge period, focusing mainly on the 14th and 15th centuries, discussing manuscripts collected together by broad themes: love stories, bestiaries, histories, and the like. In the process it also elaborates the underlying stories, so that the illumination makes sense. A lot of these are intricate and deserving whole books in themselves (which many have had, of course): different manuscripts use different variants of the same underlying myths. I was unfamiliar with most of the detail.

But it's the illustrations that are the jewels, of course. Westwell works at the British Library, and so has access to one of the world's largest collections of illuminated manuscripts. The individual letters, borders, and marginal drawings are a complete joy to explore, often with several manuscripts on a common theme set side by side to show the evolution of style and the ways in which the illuminators were thinking about their subjects. Together with the often rude and/or surreal images common to the period, this is a book I will be coming back t time and again.

[Iveta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book because the first word in the title is "Dragons", and was disappointed to find ... um... one? dragon story... no "Magic" really, but plenty "Heroes and Myths" So if you´re looking for dragons (pictures or any information) look somewhere else. This book is mostly summaries of stories, by the time I finished reading it, I had forgotten most of them.
The title should be just "The Medieval Art of Storytelling" withouth the first 4 words.
Not exactly what I was looking for, but I enjoyed the lovely pictures from old manuscripts. And it will look good on the bookshelf :)

[Maggie Desbaillets · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illuminated manuscripts were superb; the quality was better than any other book I’ve seen. However, the storytelling was quite bland. It was interesting to learn about some of the stories in medieval literature — and I found some new books to explore — but it was clearly written for a broad public. I would’ve liked to see more analysis/depth to the stories and the books themselves. Looking forward to reading de Hamel’s manuscript book as a nice counter!

[Yu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Description of various Medieval stories and legends is too brief, although the accompanying images of manuscripts and illustrations were beautiful; would've preferred a more detailed telling of each story for those who are unfamiliar with them, and a deeper exploration on their origin and background, particularly their connection/basis to historical facts.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really accessibly written introduction, but what I really appreciated as an artist was the quality of the book as an object itself which really did justice to its subject matter. Printed on good quality matte paper which shows off the illuminations and illustrations perfectly no horrible gloss which I find often darkens print reproductions.

[Brad Bevers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that only works when you read a physical copy. The author covers 40 different illuminated manuscripts from the medieval period. Each has multiple images of the various panels, the basics of the story told, and a short history of what is known about it. Really enjoyed this one, if you like looking at illuminated manuscripts in museums you will find a lot here to like.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

All our medieval periods' fantastical stories laid out with fantastic manuscript illustrations from the time.

[Cambrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read! I learned a bunch :)

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

More academic than I thought it was going to be, but really interesting. Filled with many, many beautiful excerpts from illustrated manuscripts.