The Magnificent Middle Ages at the Plantin-Moretus Museum

The exhibition, The Magnificent Middle Ages, displays 40 striking and important examples of book illumination. The pieces were selected jointly by the Plantin-Moretus Museum and Illuminare - Centre for the Study of Medieval Art (KU Leuven). A new piece of academic art research by Lieve Watteeuw and Catherine Reynolds is the basis for the exhibition.

Christopher Plantin started collecting biblical and classical writings in the 16th Century. A century later, Bibles, missals and Books of Hours from every corner of Europe complemented the collection.
In the late 18th Ccentury, the last generation of Moretuses took the collection to even greater heights. From then on, illuminated manuscripts were seen as exquisite works of art from a distant and exotic Medieval past. At the same time, the parchment folios were sometimes re-used as endpapers or dust jackets.

The Bible of Wenceslas and the Carmen Paschale occupy a central position in the exhibition.

Practical:

When: 02/02/2013-05/05/2013

Where: Plantin-Moretus/Prentenkabinet Museum Antwerp

More info: Website